A Predator Among Us
by Demod20
Summary: Aaroniero Arruruerie, the Novena Espada is perhaps the most unique and intriguing member of the 10 best Arrancars in service to Sosuke Aizen. In a surprising turn, Aaroniero finds itself thrust into a very much different war than what was perceived in the events of Canon. How far will the Novena go to get what he wants and who will be left standing in the ashes of battle?
1. Greed's True Form

**A Predator Among Us**

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**Chapter 1 - Greed's True Form**

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"**Devour, Glotonería!**"

Those two haunting words echoed the dimly lit chambers that was Aaroniero Arruruerie and Rukia Kuchiki's battlefield. A seal in form of a tubular proboscis that wriggled like a worm expanded in a fattening sea of dark purple flesh. This expansion would give way to a mutated towering frame of gelatinous tissue, comparable to that of the most hideous invertebrate species. A pair of teeth grinned hungrily on either flank of bubbling frontal surface, gargantuan crimson eyes beading down at its victim. Worst of all, the body of Kaien Shiba, bound in Espada attire raised his Shikai in proclamation down at his enemy.

"Left you speechless, haven't I, Rukia?" Aaroniero inquired with Kaien's voice and a uncharacteristic sneer spreading over its duplicated face. Waving his arms in a flamboyant manner, he could only look down at his enemy and victim of psychological torture. "Standing before you is the form that equals the totality of all aspects that I've absorbed. Over thirty thousand Hollows, give or take a few hundred, capable of being called upon while I'm in this state. And that is just touching the tip of the proverbial iceberg of what my Ressureccion can do!"

Rukia down below was left speechless. Over five stories tall, her enemy had grown into a monolith of terrifying proportions. Not only the body of her beloved superior and friend was sitting atop like a sacrilegious crown, atop a disgusting head, but the sheer magnitude of her foe weighed heavily on her.

"_His Reiatsu is on a whole other scale in comparison to when he was fighting me prior_," Rukia thought with widened eyes and a mouth agape with shaky gasping breaths. "_it feels like Kaien yet I can feel so many others. No Arrancar I've faced or seen had such a sinister sensation. It truly feels like I'm facing a legion of beings rather than a singular one. What a horrible monster this Espada is!_"

"Here I come, Rukia!" Aaroniero shouted aloud with a maniacal smile stretching across his face.

Rukia was quick to snap out of her terror ridden daze. Leaping back, her body sailed in the air, watching the ground she previously stood upon quickly be rolled over by the slimy behemoth. Before her feet even touched the ground, the bestial creature would almost be on top of her in a disorienting charge of swift momentum.

"He's fast for his si-" Rukia began to comment, finding herself halted dramatically by a bludgeoning impact. A smaller sized tendril near the front of the mouthless section of Aaroniero, from an outward perspective, finger flicked the diminutively sized Shinigami backwards. The impact alone would cause the air to pop and split visibly in a vertically elliptic shape, sending a bullet wave of force to follow Rukia's careening frame.

Hitting the ground, she rolled head over foot, landing unceremoniously onto her front. As soon as the wind returned to her lungs and the stars left her eyes, she pushed herself up slowly to her feet. Looking over her shoulder, she could see the eerie dim lighting casting a dark silhouette over the monstrosity that gleamed menacingly upon her frame. Eyes wide and breath hitched, her body shook with trepidation in the face of her inevitable killer.

"Not going to fight back? How sad," Aaroniero mocked openly with outspread arms, "I'm so disappointed in you! The Rukia I knew wouldn't give up so easily. Or is it, you're simply showing your true colors as a coward?"

Rukia's feeling of fear quickly shriveled before her rage. Pupils shrank as her shivering jaw now gnashed with a visible flash of pearly whites. Swinging her Zanpakutou around, Rukia leaped up at the beast, her blade aimed at the mocking face.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Rukia shrieked out as she impaled the effigy of Kaien, straight between the eyes. The smile seemed almost permanent, as if no form of harm had been inflicted. As seconds would pass, the impulsive Shinigami would realize with a face contorting to disbelief that her attack was for naught.

The face, head, and body seemed to evaporate before her eyes. Bowing her head, she saw the entire colossal fiend seemed to evaporate into a wisp of dark hued mist. Even as she hung in the middle of the air she could only gape at what transpired.

"**You have that look of confusion again, Rukia**," A transparent, deep voice echoed all around her within the room. Somehow sensing her sudden look of apprehension and caution, the voice continued. "**I told you I have tens of thousands of Hollows granting me their unique powers. While the majority are nothing to boast of a select black sheep of the herd seem to possess useful ones I appreciate. This aspect is to turn one's body into the fabric of Reiatsu that imitates shadows and melds as one with them**."

Lowering herself down to the ground, Rukia held her Zanpakutou with both hands, her breath coming out in steady pants that perspired frosty mist. Ice formed around her hilt and bonded with her fingers, a steady snowfall manifesting around her almost as a instinctive field of Reiatsu.

"**I see what you're doing, Rukia**," The bodiless voice continued to echo all around her, unnerving the Shinigami further, "**You're lowering your core body's temperature so that you can feel the heat of my approach. This also in turn raises the efficiency of your Zanpakutou's attack power, making instantaneous freezing a much more easy feat. I know this because you revealed finite mechanics to me all those years ago, or need I remind you who helped you train to use that power?**"

"SHUT UP!" Rukia yelled out, turning around and around with her sword held up nearly above her head, ready to strike. "stop pilfering Kaien's memories! They aren't yours and you shouldn't act like you're him!"

"**Oh, but Rukia**..."

"Grk!" Rukia suddenly gurgled out, finding her throat suddenly gripped by a strong hand. A follow-up punch was made by his other limb, causing her mouth to gape out and project wads of spit. With her sword still raised, she would feel the arm stretch up and raise her in the air, ascending many feet up into the air.

"...I _am _him. You know what they say about you are what you eat, after all," Aaroniero chastised her with a decadent grin. This was emphasized through aforementioned point by dragging his tongue across his lips.

"B-Bas-ngh!" Rukia choked out, still unable to swing down her blade.

"Your body is too weak to maneuver effectively, not after lowering your core down to this level. Maybe you should have considered doing so for not such a long period of time without even combatting me? That probably would have worked," Aaroniero suggested with a mocking grin.

All the while he spoke several worm shaped limbs flowed up from the bubbling myre that was his lower body's flesh. They would wrap around Rukia's body, melting away the frost that covered her skin by mere contact, entwining all up her Shikhakushou up to her sword wielding arms to ensure she wouldn't use her Zanpakutou. In a matter of seconds she would be all but mostly wrapped by writhing dark flesh that pulsated like a slowly beating heart.

Rukia wrinkled her nose at the stench such putrid Hollow tissue made, her stomach already turning by being bound and touched by this abomination. Never had an Arrancar she had met before turned her insides around more than he.

It was only when she caught him staring at her with a less predatory look and more of a pensive expression. Using Kaien's face unnerved her further, making her almost yearn for the dead and gone man she loved so dearly. But at the same time it made her coil up in fear at what such a monster had planned.

"You're in a unique position, Rukia," Aaroniero confessed with a frank, level tone. "originally I had wanted to make you my pawn. You'd curry favor to Lord Aizen for me and allow my ambitions to be further realized with all of your friends dead."

Turning her around by the neck, examining her head and her bound body. To Rukia it'd be the humiliating fact that with the look in his eyes she would be no more than a piece of meat before a hungry beast. An intelligent beast, however, for he seemed to have a more eloquent taste than most Hollows as he continued to examine her visually.

"Eating you would be a waste," Aaroniero said with a nod of certainty, "you may possibly grant me some aspect of your powers and your Reiatsu, but it wouldn't further my goals in the slightest. My weaknesses as you've seen would be intact and I'd still be no closer to achieving any aims I have."

Pulling her closer, Aaroniero's eyes narrowed as a thin lipped smile spread widely across his face. A hint of greed glinted in his eyes as he looked her dead in the eyes, breathing a new wave of fear into her pores. Her shivering breaths would come out shaking being this close to the nightmare that waved the face of the beloved she slain herself. It did nothing but entice Aaroniero to continue explaining her fate.

"You and I are going to become one, in a sense I inadvertently had with Kaien Shiba," Aaroniero explained in a all-too gentle tone. "my shell, despite some advantages it has lent me in the past, is limited to environment and definitive errors in its design. No, I think a new form is required for my evolution to continue."

In that moment, Rukia's eyes widened with absolute fear. The insinuation and the way he spoke as he held her could only mean one thing. A squeaky choked gasp would be let out of her agape mouth before a desperate inhalation to relieve her strangled neck of more oxygen. That intake of air would be all the invitation required as a mouthful of body binding flesh crawled up her chin and dove into it forcefully.

"MMMMMMMNGH?!" The woman gurgled out in a muffled protest. Her body began writhing violently as hard as she could as the flesh ropes soon expanded into curtains. In a matter of seconds, her body would become mummified, sealing away the visibility her black linen and beige cloak endowed figure possessed. Even her sword would be consumed by a tub of vertically inclined tubular tendril meat.

"Let's see if you remember this sensation, Rukia," Aaroniero said with a delightfully carnal smile, "I know _I _do! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

It was then that everything just beneath her eyes would be forcefully invaded. The pores of her skin, the cut on her cheek, her very insides were penetrated and forced into her. The sensation would be the equivalent of lighting her nerves on fire and keeping them over the pit of which the flames originated from.

If a shrill shriek could be felt more than heard, now would be the moment that Rukia would remember feeling this form of Reiatsu. The last thing on her mind was that horrific Hollow that sealed her beloved's fate. The one that took the wife of Kaien away before she killed it and him as well.

"_Metastacia?!_"

After what seemed like an eternity of flesh imbuing itself into Rukia's body, all traces of Aaroniero's gigantic body would be lost. In its wake, a pair of tennis ball shaped skulls would spill out of a cracked jar filled with crimson transparent liquid. They would roll lifelessly and inert to their sides, with nothing left inside of them but emptiness.

Lowering to the ground in its place, however, was a dark humanoid shape covered in vile flesh. Soon the flesh would disappear entirely and would be left with an elegant, quaint female frame. An upper class frilly coat of noble wear flourished over the frame, organized in a manner that would fit her body perfectly with a high-up collar that framed her raven tressed head. White gloves wrapped around both hands, holding Sode no Shirayuki in a more nonchalant lowered manner. Violet eyes opened and blinked around her environment, glancing down at her own body and bestowed attire.

"So strange," She spoke, raising her left hand before her eyes, clenching and unclenching it experimentally, "is this how the body of a Shinigami truly feels? Fascinating."

Swinging her blade around a few times, she performed a few graceful pirouette maneuvers followed up with flips. After seemingly prancing around in the dark halls for a handful of minutes she allowed herself a small smile of revelling. A small compulsion of releasing her Reiatsu to test how large her Reiryoku had increased swept over her, but it was quickly silenced by the inner voice of reason.

"_I don't want everyone in Las Noches to know of what happened. At least, not yet_," She thought with a nod.

Looking towards the glimmer of light, cast by the hole Rukia had created by her Souren Soukatsui. Narrowing her eyes she inhaled deeply before exhaling slowly. With trepidation she walked towards the sunlight, her footsteps echoing the battle wrecked halls of his personal quarters. The only sound that she'd hear would be her breath and her footsteps as she approached the rays bathing a portion of the room with its brilliance.

Reaching out, she'd briefly retract her fingers. Closing her eyes she reached towards it once more, walking into it in a stumbling manner. What came wasn't a searing sensation or a sudden sapping of her vitality. Instead, for what felt like the first time in her life, it was a foreign sensation she never knew.

"Warmth?" She whispered aloud as she blinked her violet eyes open, turning her head towards the artificial star that glared down at the interior of Las Noches. While she turned her eyes away from seeing it, she looked around at her form and saw that it remained intact. More than that, it had no affect on her in the slightest, that much she could tell from sensation more than action.

"Hahahaha...HEHEHEHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" She laughed in a tone of revelling and victory, hugging her sides as her form bowed forward. Fear had all but vanished from her core and now, as she was, she felt truly unstoppable. As she wiped her tears away from her laughter, she swung her sword to the side, sealing it in a single motion before sheathing it into its scabbard upon her hip.

"The light cannot keep a creature of darkness at bay any longer," She declared with a smile, raising her arms up in a declarative manner to the empty desert. Eyes narrowed with a predatory hunger as her pupils shrank and momentarily created a slit within her lavender orbs. "Aaroniero Arruruerie is reborn! The hunt for more prey begins now!"

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**A/N**: Wow, I went from writing a Dark 6th Chapter of Reap the Pain (if you're fans of that, you know what I'm taking about. If not, read Reap the Pain to know what I mean XD) to writing out this horrorfest.

This idea came literally through a conversation. The idea that Aaroniero could devour her and gain her powers, appearance, etc. and thus allow him to get even stronger than those up above him on the totem pole of the Espada.

While he never actually "devoured" Rukia in this Chapter, it was the next best thing. Imbuing his form and entire essence into her opens the door for a huge gateway of new possibilities. Capable of being so much more than simply a lab freakshow creation of Aizen's, he (now a She) is able to do much more as a Hollow/Shinigami.

Where will this lead? Who knows? Read more to find out -w-

Please leave Reviews containing your thoughts, what you'd like to see this series go, and what you liked or disliked. Constructive criticism is appreciated but I don't think negative commentary is helpful. Until then, the next Chapter should be released next week. Cya around~


	2. A LOVEless Encounter

**A Predator Among Us**

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A single moment and Aaroniero's presence, as the rest of the Espada would know it, vanished. During the subsequent moment an instantaneous feed of information would be fed into their minds, giving them each a vivid mental picture as to what happened. It would be almost as clear as Ulquiorra's ocular feed he employs when crushing one of his eyes.

"**Farewell, Espada!**"

_Rukia Kuchiki shouted aloud as she cut her Zanpakutou through Aaroniero's head-tank. Crimson liquid spilled out and sent the heads of Aaroniero rolling as the rest of his monolithic form dispersed into a knee deep pool of emerald juices. Those juices themselves would soon dissipate and evaporate into thin air , just as the weary and cut Shinigami would descend to the ground onto her hands and knees. _

_Looking over, the young female Shinigami would glare at the heads writhing in place over the scarlet hued juices. One was quite still and groaning. The other was considerably less so._

"**AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! THE PAIN! AIZEN PLEASE MAKE IT STOP! I CAN'T BEAR IT ANY LON-GRK?!**"

_After wailing for some time, the secondary head of Aaroniero was stabbed through the skull's temple. Gargling his final breaths, all that remained was the other head, visibly contorting a skeletal glare at Rukia. As Rukia walked over to him with sword raised, he'd chuckle out loud with a sign of resigning. _

"**To think you were able to best me. I was too careless to underestimate you...**"

_Without another word, Rukia cut him in a perfect bisecting half. This would create nothing but a blank screen of static for all those "tuning in" as it were. All would verify the last moments with the testifying signature of Rukia's Reiatsu still strong in the air while Aaroniero's wasn't. _

To the rest of the Espada, Aaroniero was dead.

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**The Raging Sea Palace, Upper Terrace**

"Shit!" Exclaimed Emilou Apacci, one of the three Tres Bestias. Her heterochromic eyes glared at the approximate direction she felt Aaroniero's Reiatsu disappear, in conjunction with the mental images she was shown. Gritting her teeth, she turned her head towards her superior's direction, whom was looking in an entirely different direction of the upper Palace's terrace.

"Lady Harribel!" Emilou shouted, "what should we do?!"

"Why are you bothering her, Emilou?" Franceska Mila Rose asked her companion. Her left brow raised scrupulously at Emilou, placing her left hand on a jutted out hip while waving her free hand in an emphasizing manner. "you do realize she's just as aware of this broadcast as we are right? If she wanted us to do something immediate, she would have told us so."

"I wasn't talking to you, fuckin' whore!" Emilou snarled, her face immediately invading Franceska's personal space to glare up at the taller Arrancar.

"Whatcha say, bitch?!" Franceska growled back, ramming her head against Emilou's forehead whom pressed it back with equal vigor. Both of them would be enamored with comedically bulging veins across their cheeks, further emphasizing their hotblooded nature.

"Please, stop shouting," Spoke Cyan Sung-Sun, the last and most feminine by appearance of the Tres Bestias, in a chastizing manner. "your voices, as well as your faces, are giving me more of a headache than they usually do. Please cut the unnecessary vulgarity down to a minimum you two harlots can handle."

"What's that?!" Emilou and Franceska shouted at once, their cheeks sliding against each other as they locked widened eyes incredulous rage at their comrade.

Cyan raised her left arm to cover her mouth below the bridge of her nose. Narrowing her eyes, she turned her head to glance at them from the side, "Are you two hard of hearing from your deafening shouts? Let me repeat it in a more eloquent manner. You two wretched sluts are a pain to listen to as much as it is to behold visually. I'd rather not hear you anymore than I see you so please. Shut. Up."

"DO YOU WANT TO DIE?!" Emilou and Franceska shouted with upraised hands. The prior cracking her knuckles while the latter clawed them at her sides. Both looked eager to pounce at their friend for verbally goading them.

"That's enough, you three," A calm, commanding voice came from their superior, Tier Harribel, the Tres Espada. Her body didn't shift or move despite the obvious order she made regarding her subordinates. Hearing them stop, she felt she could continue, "if you used your Pesquisa responsibly, you would feel other forces at work since Novena's passing."

"Other forces?" Emilou inquired, her eyes widened while Franceska's narrowed, Cyan remaining foremostly impassive.

The Espada grew silent upon them inquiring the nature of her words. A sigh escaped her collar-hidden mouth, eyes briefly closing then opening. "You'll see soon enough. All I ask of you is that you remain where you are so that you can see it properly."

"Yes, Milady," The Tres Bestias said as one, synchronizing their absolute loyalty to their Lady. All they did now was turn their bodies to walk over and stand next to their superior. In just a short few minutes, they would all but forget about their fellow Espada's death and keep their senses appraised to what Tier was waiting for.

They could only wonder what it could be...and why it captured her attention so vividly.

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**The Empty Crown Palace, Throne Room**

"Huh, so he got himself killed?"

Those were the words that escaped the Segundo Espada, Baraggan Louisenbairn's lips. He sat upon a bone-clad throne, leaning his left jaw against a clenched fist as he tapped his aged fingers on the right sided armrest. Within the ample lit room had no furnishing or decoration, only lined up with a dozen large Hollow skulls mounted on each one with various shapes to each.

"Stupid punk," Barragan huffed with irritation. "I would have killed you years ago, had it not been Aizen's meddling in keeping infighting down to a minimum. Your feast upon hundreds of my subordinates was going to incur my wrath sooner or later. Damn shame I wasn't the one to watch you wither to dust."

Closing his eyes, Barragan heaved a sigh, "I congratulate you, Shinigami, for slaying the piece of garbage that he was. For that, I won't have my subordinates hunt you down like the dogs you and your interloping colleagues are."

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**The Howling Wolf Palace, The Lobby Quarters**

"Staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrk!" Lilynette Gingerback called out with her hands cupped over her mouth. Walking through every hall and collosal proportioned room Aizen designed for such an esteemed Espada, she wondered if it was all really worth the trouble. Considering his nature, he wouldn't bother looking in most of them at all.

Walking past a tall doorspace, the lime haired Arrancar stopped dead in her tracks to see where the man in question was. A resoundingly loud chorus of snores echoed the confines of the room; a insignificant one with a small ceiling light and a door leading to the outside of the palace at the bottom of a walled off stairwell.

A mischievious look crossed her face as she spotted the sleep ridden companion of hers. Comedically, she tip-toed over towards Starrk's reclined frame, crossing the room's vast space in under half a minute. Seeing that an arm was looped over his eyes, she felt no problem would befall her master plan.

Using her right hand, she pointed downwards at the gaping mouth that continued to grate out snores. A sudden plunge of knuckles and an outstretched digit would befall the man, cutting off his air supply. After a handful of gurgles of waking protest were made, Lilynette quickly extracted her hand out of his mouth as a wide-eyed man began coughing and spluttering aghast with alarm.

"The Hell...?!" Starrk began to sputter out, his eyes drawing over to Lilynette's frame, "oh..."

"Heh," Lilynette grinned cheekily. She bowed her body to one angle, placing the back of her left hand against the jutting hip while using the right hand to be raised up into a peace sign. "yo, Starrk!"

"Uhhhhhhhh," Starrk groaned with weary eyes, his lips covered in drool and his brow beading a few drops of sweat. Turning promptly to face his back to his companion, he said aloud in a tired tone, "leave me alone and let me sleep..."

Bulging small veins covered Lilynette's face as her exposed eye open wide in an outraged manner. Forward flipping to face Starrk on the other side, Lilynette grabbed him by his shoulders and began stomping over his crotch, "GET UP! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP! GET UP!"

"AH! STOP IT! NOT MY CROTCH!" Starrk barked out in pained retort.

After the beatings subsided, Lilynette knelt over the cushion prone Starrk. Her gaze looked curiously at the melancholic daze his eyes seemed to have, his mouth held in a semblance of a bored grimace. It didn't seem like he cared in the slightest for what had just happened.

"Aren't you," Lilynette cocked her head slightly to the left, trying to catch Starrk's eyes, "even a little bothered by what's happened?"

"What do you expect me to do about it," Starrk asked without turning his head, "he's dead. Me hunting down the Shinigami who killed him won't change that. 'Sides, I don't think Aizen wants us all hording in on the intruders, given what happened in that meeting with Grimmjow-"

"You're still afraid," Lilynette interrupted, causing Starrk to halt his speech but not turn his wall-locked stare. Lilynette took a sit over his chest, her palms still resting over his shoulders as she examined him with her pink eye. "you're afraid of...getting close to your comrades, aren't you?"

"How many have we seen become brittle and die before our eyes, Lily?" Starrk asked, coining the nickname for her when he was being serious. Turning his gaze to hauntingly look up with a emptiness that she knew all too well. The sight of sadness that none of the Espada would ever fulfill.

"Is that why, you coop yourself up in here, away from everybody else?" Lilynette asked as her eyes were drawn down to the Arrancar's Hollow hole. Looking through it, she could see the darkened silhouette of the cushions he laid upon. In a metaphorical sense, she could also see the bottomless pit that depression couldn't be alleviated. "is that why, you only let me go out and talk with the others?"

"Of the two of us, it's better if I don't mingle with the others," Starrk admitted in a lower tone, "after all, between the two of us, my Reiatsu is much higher than yours. It's better this way."

"I see," Lilynette bowed her head, closing her eye as she let out a small sigh, "alright. I guess we do nothing, as usual."

"That's the plan, Lilynette," Starrk answered as he slouched an arm over his eyes, renewing his slumber, "not until Lord Aizen says otherwise..."

* * *

**The Seer Palace, Meditation Chambers**

Zommari's eyes opened wide. The transmission that just reached him upon his comrade's death disturbed him to no end. One of the Shinigami interloping Hueco Mundo, penetrating the defenses of Las Noches, had fought and killed an Espada singlehandedly. The one known as...

"_Rukia Kuchiki, hm?_" Zommari narrowed his eyes, his mind's eye locking onto the stoically hardened face. Her cold eyes glaring down at Aaroniero with not but spite and outrage. Her strikes upon Aaroniero's two heads were ruthless and calculated, not leaving any room for error.

"The Last of the First Generation Espada falls to your blade," Zommari spoke aloud as he kept his meditative stance, both palms pointed upwards with his sword lying in front of him in its sheathe. Breathing in and out through his nostrils, the Espada continued to contemplate the situation. He could feel the faint traces of the gradual regression of Reiatsu that was the killer's.

After what seemed like a few minutes of further meditation, Zommari's person seemed to evaporate, his sword disappearing in tandem. His feet would tap simultaneously near the exit of his meditative space, the scabbard in his left hand held just below the spiked disc guard. In the seconds that followed his performance of high speed movement, Zommari would finish his new initiative aloud in the empty hallowed halls of his Palace, making purposefully slow strides emptying the room.

"It shall be by my blade that you die, Shinigami!"

* * *

**The Debaucherous Palace, Main Hall**

"MASTER SZAYELOPPORO! MASTER SZAYELOPPORO!" Two bulbous egg shaped Arrancar shouted as they bounced towards their master. One bore hair while the other lacked any, making that their only distinctive character traits to tell them apart.

"AARONIERO IS DEAD!"

"SHINIGAMI KILLED HIM!"

"KILLED BY A SHINIGAMI AARONIERO ARRURUERIE WAS!"

"Oh?" Szayel turned his head casually to examine his Fraccion tell him the news. Placing his right forefingers to his temple, he himself began examining the mental images that were broadcast to him. A look of understanding crossed his face as he nodded with verbal affirmation, "it's true. It seems Aaroniero was finally done in by someone. Quite a messy end he ha...hmmm?"

Narrowing his eyes, his words drifted off to silence as he noticed something else. A secondary set of senses beyond his Pesquisa detecting Reiatsu and the Synchronized Cognition that projected the events that transpired minutes before death. An additional set of sensors only he himself had designed and placed on a particular place to aid him of observing those of the Espada ranks.

"Intriguing," Szayel said with a thin smile.

"W-What...the Hell...are you talking about?!"

"Hmmm?" Szayel turned to examine his opponent. With his desert cloak torn and his Shikhakushou ragged around the edges, obvious signs of bruising and cuts were seen from the various bouts of Cat &amp; Mouse had between the two. All things considered, he looked miserable for fighting an opponent of his stature.

Waving his hand dismissively, he tapped his sword's edge upon the ground below in a casual manner, "Are you losing the ability to understand words? I obviously confirmed that a comrade of mine, the Novena Espada, was slain by one of your comrades. You shouldn't wear such a barbarically incredulous expression. I am congratulating your comrade after all."

"That's not it," Renji said with a heaved growl, eyes narrowing sharply at him, "something's wrong, isn't it?! What's going on out there?"

Pushing up the rim of his glasses with his spare hand, Szayel spread a toothy grin, "I don't feel inclined to spoil that."

"ANSWER ME!"

"Or what?" Szayel inquired with amused, half mast eyes.

A sudden dramatic swing of his sword by Renji, blocked instinctively by the back of the Arrancar's hand, the one wielding the sword. Such a display was more of a scoffing gesture at how petty a maneuver was. This would be further emboldened by the amused expression passively worn upon his face.

"I calculated you'd do something like that," Szayel said with a lower tone. "it's all in vain. Even a ridiculous monkey like you should realize by now. A Shikai of your level cannot harm an Espa-"

A sudden fluctuation of crimson-hued Reiatsu would be felt, causing the Espada's eyes to briefly flare open wide at the sensation. Moments later a violent explosion would be had along the edge of the contacted blade, leaving a wafting bath of steam and smoke to surround the standing Espada.

"If you're not going to give me straight answers, then I'm done fighting you!" Renji snarled aloud, pupils shrunken and mouth open agape with bared teeth of indignant frustration. "now move!"

"Tsk-tsk-tsk," Szayel breathed out as the steam revealed a small cut made above his right brow, "such a stubborn one you are. Allow me to educate you on the definition of futility, Shinigami."

* * *

**Palace of the Fallen Blades, Outermost Corridor**

"This Reiatsu...!" Ichigo gasped sharply, his sandal feet skidding to a halt in the middle of a pillar laden hall. Looking around he could feel it, faintly spiking just before fading upon the recesses of his senses. It came from what felt like a good distance away from the Palace he was still navagating and it belonged to someone he knew.

"...belongs to Rukia Kuchiki," A voice from the top of the stairwell finished, attracting Ichigo's gaze up. There, with hands pocketed in the folds of his hakama, was the pale skinned vampiric Arrancar. Stepping down purposefully with each step he looked down and scrutinized the pair of individuals beneath his gaze. His Reiatsu, unlike that of Grimmjow's, seemed so much more composed and controlled. To someone like Ichigo, it was impossible to gauge just how strong he was.

Reaching the middle of the stairwell, he halted to stare impassively at Ichigo, "That was what you were going to say, wasn't it?"

"You're," Ichigo began, his eyes widened as much as the child Arrancar Nel's was, "Ulquiorra!"

"You say that name, yet I don't remember giving it to you," Ulquiorra said frankly, the tone curt enough to sound insulted at Ichigo saying it so freely. Unwilling to descend further from the staircase, the Arrancar sighed with a purposeful closing of his eyes. "no matter. Allow me to enlighten you on what you haven't figured out yet. Rukia Kuchiki has just slain the Novena Espada, Aaroniero Arrurerie."

"What?!" Ichigo gasped aloud.

"Apparently, while you and your comrades were busy fighting the Privaron Espada, Rukia encountered the Ninth ranked of the Espada. You should feel proud of that accomplishment, even if it is a futile one," Ulquiorra reopened his eyes to glare down at Ichigo pointedly. "there are still nine other Espada, including myself, before you even reach Lord Aizen. The reality is that because of Rukia's victory, she will become prey for the other Espada, one way or another."

Hearing this caused the Substitute's expression to quickly change into a visage of alarm instead of relief. Turning on his heels, Ichigo began to dash from the stairwell towards the end of the hall, intending to exit the palace as soon as possible.

"Aren't you going to fight me?" Ulquiorra called out from his perch.

Hearing his voice, Ichigo felt disinclined to continue, only taking a moment to look over his shoulder up at the white garbed Arrancar, "As far as I know, you haven't done anything personal against me or my comrades. I don't have any reason to fight you, at least right now."

"I see," Ulquiorra narrowed his eyes, "so if I told you the reason that Orihime Inoue came to Las Noches was because of me, would you still think otherwise?"

The sound of thunder followed by a flash of light would be the answer made by the Substitute. With Zangetsu held aloft to the side, steaming from the release of excess discharge of Reishi, Ichigo's vehement glare fixated upon the localized explosion of his rapidly fired technique. When the steam would dim, it would reveal Ulquiorra's silhouette and the staircase itself. A large gouge would be carved into the infrastructure of the stairwell, only halting just around the point where the Espada stood. He'd appear unscathed, with an upraised right forearm that appeared to have taken the brunt of the attack.

"Bastard! You're the reason Orihime was called a traitor!" Ichigo snarled aloud, swinging his blade in his direction in a proclaiming manner. "do you realize what you've done?!"

"Found a reason to fight me yet?" Ulquiorra inquired rhetorically, goading him with his stoically dispassionate posture, entirely ignoring Ichigo's question.

"Yeah, I have!" Ichigo said with a hardened expression. Setting down Nel next to his feet, he gestured with his free hand. "stand back, Nel. Just like last time."

"Ichigo...?" Nel quietly quivered up at her orange-haired friend and protector.

"Don't worry about me," Ichigo said with a smile, returning his gaze back to Ulquiorra whom just stared down at him with mild curiosity, "he doesn't seem to want to budge. I'm not going to mess around..."

Clasping his hand over his right arm, he could hear a mild squeak and quick scampering of little limbs to escape what was to come. Leaping up into the air, Ichigo would shout loudly as he'd bring his sword above his head, the blade already becoming enshrouded by a veil of dense Reiatsu. "...I'm going full power from the start!"

From the moment Ichigo shouted, Ulquiorra's attention was singularly fixated upon him. A twister of crimson outlined black Reishi cycloned in the air of the high ceiling within the hall. The ground shook and the air quaked with the intensifying Reiatsu, rising higher and higher. Narrowing his green eyes at the whirlwind of climaxing power, he'd breathe out in an expectant sigh, "Bankai again?"

Then, the typhoon of Reishi dispersed. As the shockwave of bristling winds lapped over the Espada's garments, something appeared out of the steaming air currents high above his head. Wreathed in a longer and more elegant kosode, Ichigo's Shikhakushou transformed into a more sleek appearance, composed of black and red silk. Bodily clinging to the Shinigami, the attire seemed to be a mass of Reishi, a power cloak of sorts to display the sheer amount of Reiryoku he possessed. The black sword itself was hyper compressed Reishi, and to his eyes, seemed to be a very durable weapon.

But then something clashed with the elegance and smooth features of Ichigo's Bankai. A white alabaster mask, crafted of plaster and bone clung to his face. With red painted lines etched onto the left side, golden eyes glared through angled eye holes, mirroring the menace the visible rows of teeth laid bare and clung together. Combined with his Bankai, his assimilation of Reishi wasn't just Shinigami but also...

"_...Hollow Reiryoku?!_" Ulquiorra thought with widened eyes of shock.

In that moment of shock, Ichigo had incidentally chose to strike. His body blurred forth with a speed that hadn't been displayed in his fight with Yammy or even his second confrontation with Grimmjow. Like a wraith of black with a face of white and red, Ichigo's form appeared with a leap of Reishi propulsion, leaving a elliptical shockwave from where he formerly had hovered high within the ceiling vista. Thrusting his sword forth, it would barely be blocked by the back of Ulquiorra's unpocketed left hand, partially embedding its tip into the pale flesh.

"Ngh?!" Ulquiorra grimaced visibly, finding the very foundation he stood upon collapsed within a wave of black-red Reiatsu. With the staircase collapsed, his feet pressed against the air reflexively, projecting Reishi particles from the bottom of his feet to keep from falling outright along with the debris turned stairs.

"_What kind of Reiatsu is this?!_" Ulquiorra thought with bafflement, his eyes drawn to the sword that hungered for more of his hand's flesh. Employing his own Reiatsu through his Hierro, he kept the offending penetrating object from pushing further. The fact that he had to focus in order to keep from being injured was ludicrous in the Arrancar's mind.

All of the immediate attention he placed into the blade's edge kept him from noticing the silhouette of a trespassing limb. Arcing forward, Ichigo's hand suddenly grappled Ulquiorra's face, covering the left half with his palm while his thumb wrapped around the bridge of his nose and his forefinger curved around his left brow. The slap of flesh and pressure behind Ichigo's arm strength was enough to make the Arrancar bow back half a foot, still reeling from shock at the situation.

"**_I don't have time for your games, Ulquiorra!_**" Ichigo snarled aloud, his Hollowfied voice magnifying the sheer menace of his newfound Visored form before the Arrancar's eyes.

To punctuate his words, a bright crimson light shined blindingly over Ulquiorra's face, expanding till it was equal to his own head in mass. The mighty thrum that echoed the hall's space and rattled his skull caused his mind to query a numbing question he never conceived this enemy to possess.

_"A...Cero?!_"

A deafening shriek would sound as Ulquiorra's entire body be consumed in a fiery blast of crimson Reishi. The spirit particles would throttle his person through pillar after pillar, smashing the reinforced columns into fragmented bits, just short of the columns themselves toppling downwards. Just short of striking the wall, the Arrancar would clench his fingers into a fist and give the Cero a high powered punch. The result would redirect its current away to bowl over a number of other pillars, reducing a large portion of the wall into oblivion with a mighty explosion.

"_His Reiryoku and Reiatsu. If I didn't believe my eyes, it's almost as if I'm fighting an Arrancar instead of a Shiniga-_" Ulquiorra trailed off upon seeing a dark silhouette expand over him from above. As his emerald eyes looked up with renewed alarm, his mouth parted briefly to emit a gasp. Black and red Reishi currents of a colossal height trailed from a overhead raised black blade, held by both hands in the process of swinging it downwards. Unveiling his right hand upon instinct, the Espada crossed both arms over his head, knowing the momentum the Cero had created inhibited him from dodging.

Reishi coated blade would meet both arms. A shower of sparks would momentarily sprout forth, complemented by a elliptical shockwave that crushed and toppled more support pillars. The clash between both mutual Reiatsus was great enough to cause cracks within the overhead ceiling, webbing out and crumbling from the force placed upon its physical integrity. The struggle was taking a toll on the very battlefield they initiated this fight within.

"**_RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!_**" A Hollow roar from splitted skeletal teeth of Ichigo's mask, and he'd push his blade completely downwards, creating a thin veil of black-red Reiatsu to propel the Arrancar himself downwards into the ground below him. Visible tears across Ulquiorra's sleeves would be seen by his attacker, with even thinner lacerations made over his forearms by the very weapon he used to thrust him downwards.

"_I'm being overpowered?!_" A breath of air escaped Ulquiorra's lungs as those thoughts came to the surface. His back slapped hard against the ground, cracking and indenting the tiled flooring, creating an uproar of debris and plaster smoke. He'd find his body sprawled and half buried within the rubble, a look of incomprehension crossing his normally assured and stoic visage. "_I've severely underestimated this human. His powers have grown far greater than my original estimates of him back in the World of the Living!_"

The sensation of a high pressured kick would be felt on Ulquiorra's chest, catching him once again by surprise. Blowing back any detritus from his floor segmented form, it would further destroy the tiled landscape, tentatively staying above the next floor down from where they stood. With the ceiling barely holding together as well, Ichigo's next move -Ulquiorra surmised- would surely topple this part of the hall completely.

"**_GETSUGA,_**" Ichigo enunciated in a guttural tone, swinging his crimson black outlined mass of Reishi down in a pendulum strike, aiming to collide it where Ulquiorra's Hollow hole resided, "**_TENSHOU!_**"

And just like that, everything came crashing down. Within the wake of the massive black arc of Reiatsu employed Reishi, the crescent shaped blaze would encompass the floor underneath Ichigo's feet and send Ulquiorra plummeting downwards. Creating a perfect bisection of the floor before and ahead of him, the hall all but collapsed with a shower of concrete and sulfur, the ceiling itself raining down with parts of the wall with it. It would join floor after floor, as the sound of the seemingly endless descent of Ulquiorra and Ichigo's ultimate and currently only technique would seem to fade away like dying thunder.

Staring downwards, Ichigo began to heave with exertion. Bits of his mask began to crumble and collapse down to join the dark hole that his attack created. As the final parts of his Hollow shards fell downwards, a bright crimson light would be seen below, followed by an uproaring plume of flames that rose all the way up in front of the Shinigami's hovering frame. While he flinched at its rise, he the lack of sensing Ulquiorra's immediate return gave him a sense of relief and success.

Lowering his blade, he turned around and kicked off the air towards the only part of the hall that he had been heading to that was still intact. Dropping by a cracked pillar, Ichigo placed his free hand on it and glanced down at the trembling Nel, smiling at her, "You alright?"

"D-D-Dat was quasy Itsygo!" Nel sputtered out loud. Hobbling up to her feet, she grasped at Ichigo's black clothed skirt, staring up at him with wide unbelieving eyes, "using all dat powa at once! Your bwody bein' hurt all up! Why you so weckwess?!"

Ichigo's eyes were wide with surprise as the usually upbeat and positive Nel dissolved her rants into heavy sobs. His tender smile would return as he bent down at rubbed her masked head, trying to reassure the best way he could. "Hey, what's with all the tears? I'm okay now, alright? I wasn't even touched in that battle."

"A-A-Are you shur?" She asked with quivering lips, sniffling comically with large eyes.

"Yeah, just a little winded. Never had to use that much Hollowfied power all at once in my Getsuga Tenshou. Not to mention the Cero," Ichigo explained readily away, waving nonchalantly as he stood tall. "but it's okay now."

The succinct buzzing of a Sonido would counter Ichigo's very words. Turning slowly with heavy trepidation, Ichigo saw with quickly increasing dread the state his enemy was in. Scorch marks seemed to cover the majority of his uniform, the fabric of his kosode's shoulders and chest seemed to have a number of holes where the burns were the greatest. A single line seemed to be no wider than a hair cut down Ulquiorra's chest, sporting no blood other than wafting trails of steam and an angry purple bruise. Other than that, the massive explosion and point blank release of his Getsuga Tenshou seemed to have no desirable effect.

"Was that it?" Ulquiorra asked, his voice no longer holding any form of amusement. "that technique you just used now was far more powerful than that Cero you used before. You even managed to work past my guard and overpower me when I was off balance. But, if this is the best you can do, I only have one word to summarize the totality of your strength..."

Punctuating these words with a purposefully slow rise of his right hand, a single index finger pointed at Ichigo's direction as his stoic gaze seemed to double as a glare, "**Disappointing**."

At that instant, no audible or visible sign of priming could be witnessed before Ichigo's eyes as a voluminous mass of emerald Reishi discharged from Ulquiorra's fingertip. Only thanks to Ichigo's hyper awareness within his Bankai was he able to turn his head and note that Nel was still beside him. Without hesitation, his hand swung over his face the same moment his body crouched down and wrapped his sword wielding arm around Nel. Taking the full brunt of the attack, Ichigo felt nothing but a wave of searing pain overlap his body and rip apart what little durability his Bankai's attire possessed.

As his ears rang, he leaped out of the hole the Cero had created. Tumbling down to land on the sand below, Ichigo gasped raspily, glancing up at the hole from which his nemesis created. Without hesitating, the burned and bleeding Shinigami took off in a full on sprint, aiming to get as far away from the battlefield as possible.

"Nel! Are you alright?!" Ichigo yelled in panicked inquiry. Feeling no movement, let alone a response, Ichigo quickly became alarmed. The force of the shockwave he couldn't deflect with his body he could only conclude that it rattled her enough into unconsciousness.

"Stay with me, Nel! I'll get us out of he-!" Ichigo tried to reassure the toddler under his arms, till what came out of the corner of his eye gave him pause. Gaping with disbelief, he saw Ulquiorra easily overtaking Ichigo, matching him step for step in a sprint visibly more casual than his.

A sudden whirl of white-hued movement and a sand-ridden explosion would be sounded. While Ichigo's form would be whirling in a pinwheeling manner towards one of the towers, Ulquiorra's leg just now began to become visible, dipping down to the ground to signify the end of his kick. Following the tap of his sole onto the sand below, a distant shattering of infrastructure was heard as Ichigo's body spiraled into the interior of the spyre the Arrancar punted him into.

Through a quick employment of Sonido, Ulquiorra appeared before the Shinigami, heaving and bleeding heavily. Narrowing his eyes, the Espada re-pocketed his hands into the folds of his hakama, walking casually towards the downed opponent with little regard, "You used that strange mask to shield yourself from my Cero? An impressive testament to your Bankai's hyper speed. However, this time it shattered, perhaps easier than the first time you donned it. You're at the limits of your strength, human. It's over."

What the Arrancar expected next was the eventual collapse of such a wounded body or the pained resignation of a beaten warrior. He hardly perceived him thrusting his sword suddenly into his upper left pectoral, cutting straight through the cloth of his burnt kosode and impacting into his reinforced skin. The Shinigamified Hollow looked down incredulously at the offending weapon, shortly before looking onto the wielder.

"Who...the fuck...would surrender...to you?!" Ichigo snarled exhaustedly at his enemy, the light in his eyes far from burned out. A smile seemed to stretch across his face, a sound and look of confidence building up behind his visage as he spoke, "you're the top Espada, aren't ya?! So if I kill you, that's the same as declaring my victory over all the others!"

"Is that so?" Ulquiorra inquired rhetorically, his left hand wrapping easily around the black blade that pushed against his chest. Applying a miniscule amount of force to coerce it away from his body, he angled it so that he'd push aside the remains of the left flank of his kosode top. Seeing the look of confusion grow quickly across the Shinigami's face was enough to give Ulquiorra a form of content, "unfortunately for you, that foolish assumption is incorrect."

What Ichigo saw was mind-boggling. An italic tattoo in the shape of the number four appeared over the left pectoral muscle, "Th-Th-The Fourth?!"

"Correct," Ulquiorra said blankly, "I am Ulquiorra Schiffer, Cuatro Espada. In terms of strength, skill, and abilities I am the fourth strongest of the Espada."

"N-No way," Ichigo gulped and breathed heavily with disbelief. Any further breathing halted with the immediate intrusion of a knife-hand thrust of Ulquiorra's right hand. Looking down at the set of digits buried into his torso, he felt pain and confusion flood his mind, only able to hear the slow beats of his heart echo every last word Ulquiorra spoke to him.

"Ichigo Kurosaki," Ulquiorra began, "you have no hope of defeating me. Even if you were to defeat me, you'd have to go through four others to reach me. After that, there is three others above me in terms of powers and abilities. Try as you might, facing me in battle one thousand times over will provide nothing but defeat. Your quest to save Orihime Inoue..."

Withdrawing his hand, a shower of blood would be seen, shortly following a deadly silent fall of Ichigo's body onto the cold floor.

"...is over."

* * *

**Chapter 2 - A **LOVE**less Encounter**

**A Few Minutes Ago...**

"Everything should be in place," Aaroniero said to herself, finishing the final touches of evidence to back up her proclaimed demise. Having grabbed spare robes from one of the interior hidden closet spaces within her domain, she placed it accordingly in a way that would mimic the aspect of her body's fall right over sampled blood of her own prior to attaining her new body. She even cut her old body's skulls in a manner that would dictate accurately what she falsely sent to the rest of her comrades.

"_With irrefutable evidence left here, I should be able to move freely without too much suspicion_," The Espada in disguise thought with a stoic nod. Placing a hand over the bound collar of her beige desert robe over her Shinigami Shikhakushou, she grimaced visibly. "_as much as I revolt wearing their uniforms, I can't use my own for surely raising unneeded questions_."

Turning on her heels, she exited the shadowy lair of hers and entered the world of light. Leaping out of the hole, her body free falled down, gently landing in a crouch. Standing upright she allowed herself to inhale deeply and exhale.

"There's an abundance of Reiatsu signatures," Aaroniero noted verbally. She turned her head left to right, feeling a number of them colliding as much as there were those remaining active or on the move. After a few moments of thought, Aaroniero placed both sets of forefingers to either of her temples and closed her eyes. "time to engage my **Busqueda la Mente**!"

An ominous silence would take place as a invisible pulse would be sent out from Aaroniero's mind. Visible images began to appear within Aaroniero's mind, detailing the exact location, position and permeating power coming off each signature. Even the most subdued sources would be within Aaroniero's perception, all culminating in a large net of information that he'd use to track each signature and discern his next move.

"_Aizen is located within the _**White Citadel **_at the heart of Las Noches. I can feel him and his two Lieutenants along with Wonderweiss still located inside. It doesn't appear they're moving_," Aaroniero noted with a relaxed sigh escaping her nostrils. She'd continue her assessment as she'd furrow her brows. "Renji Abarai is currently combatting Szayelopporo in his Palace. A number of Arrancar including Uryu Ishida are also within his vicinity. I doubt they're going to leave that place intact, knowing their techniques have undoubtedly increased.

"_Tier's remaining alert but doesn't seem to be intending on moving, her and her Tres Bestias. Same thing goes for Starrk and Lilynette. Barragan and his own Fraccion too. Nnoitra seems to be a good deal away as well_," She continued dictating as she came across their presences, her brows slowly unfurling into one of satisfaction. However, they tightened when she felt familiar presences that unnerved her. "_Ulquiorra seems to be fighting, no, beating Ichigo Kurosaki just outside of the _**Privaron Palace**. _He'll surely be slain by someone of his caliber. Grimmjow is surprisingly elusive with his own actions. It's like he's heading in the opposite direction, though I'm not sure where. I cannot pinpoint Nnoitra's direction of path as rational, he seems to be just drawn to the large Reiatsus in Las Noches, a primal instinct on his part. Now I should look for_-"

Eyes widened as Aaroniero found two signatures, recognizable by her alone. Clenching her eyes closed once more, she focused on their signatures once more, finding them to be at the opposite end of the Privaron Palace. A delighted smile, too carnal for the likes of Rukia, stretched across Aaroniero's face at the catch she found.

"_Zommari's on the move here, most likely intent on finishing_ my _killer off_," Aaroniero thought with a bemusing chuckle, rising up from her crouched stance. "_It'll be hard to throw him off my trail, given I used _**Cognition Synchronization **_to detail the supposed end of Rukia and I's fight. I'll just intend to finish my business quickly before he arrives._"

With plan enacted, Aaroniero kicked off the sand and disappeared with a rapidly deployed Shunpo. Her figure disappearing in a blur of high speed movement, she'd leave behind the battle that marked her next stage of evolution and the demise of one of Las Noches' intruders.

* * *

"Found you!" Aaroniero exclaimed as she landed softly near the bodies of two individuals. Blood, still moist, soaked the pale grains they lied upon only a dozen meters apart from each other. Despite their very still appearances, she could tell they were both alive through some miracle or force of will.

Approaching the first, Aaroniero would kneel just above the orange afro head of the defeated Arrancar.

"Gantenbainne Mosqueda," Aaroniero said in a low tone, her eyes drawing to a half mast as she regarded the Shinigamified Hollow. "you were a natural Arrancar, and one of the few to retain his placement as part of Aizen's initial selection of Espada. As _Séptima _Espada, your only flaw is that you prided your personal strength rather than acknowledge your enemy's skills. Zommari's replacement of you was inevitable and your defeat at the hands of a human only cemented your failed status."

Placing her left hand over his face, Aaroniero would then finish with widened eyes of cold detachment, "At least know your power will be better served at my own possession!"

What would take place was horrific to any beholder. Her hand transformed into a five prong tendril with a hungry maw at its center. Squelching forth in a subdued shower of brain matter and flesh would be consumed as the gluttonous secondary tube dug into the skull of the unconscious Arrancar. Seconds later, a powerful suction of Reishi absorption -similar to Gonzui- would be felt, tearing apart the spiritual body of Gantenbainne. All of the tissue, blood, and aesthetic remains would be funneled into the maw, sending visible bulging contortion up the arm and into Aaroniero's gullet.

In less than half a minute, Aaroniero would have devoured the entirety of Gantenbainne. His essence absorbed now fully assimilated into her being.

"In the grand scheme of things, your Reiatsu isn't as impressive as the other high ranking Espada," Aaroniero commented to herself, examining her tendril hand revert back into its dainty feminine form. "but you have gotten stronger since I last saw you. Perhaps you were around Yammy's level, prior to his released state anyways. Hardly matters, really. What's yours is mine now."

Rising to her feet, she turned around to examine the other fallen man. Narrowing her eyes she could feel the faint amount of Reiatsu clinging to his body, somehow attracting the Reishi around him to pour into his wounds. Widening her eyes it just dawned to her that even with Rukia's knowledge of this man she didn't know what this man was until just now.

_"Sado Yasutora has Hollow powers?!_" Aaroniero thought with widened eyes of surprise.

"I've finally found you," The words suddenly rattled Aaroniero's ears as instantly as the buzzing of Sonido nary a few meters behind her. Operating purely on instinct she dashed to her left using a rush of Shunpo, avoiding the downward slash that created a fissure of bisecting force accompanied with a singular shout. "Shinigami!"

A shower of sand would begin to rain downwards as Aaroniero thumbed her sword out of its scabbard lock. Adjusting her eyes she'd see the silhouette of a rather big Arrancar, someone easily a head foot taller than even Ichigo. As the dust would settle, a mandarin coat would be tightly fitted to his muscular frame, leading down to a standard hakama and a pair of martial artist sandals fitted to his bare feet.

"_Zommari!_" Aaroniero thought internally with a visible scowl, unsheathing her sword in a purposely slow manner. "_He found me quicker than I would have liked..._"

"You move well, Rukia Kuchiki," Zommari noted calmly, turning to face his enemy with sword in hand. Raising the blade to be level with his own shoulder, Zommari's posture remained upright and composed. Nothing seemed to be able to rattle him outwardly as his only goal lied before his eyes. "perhaps your boast of holding back against Aaroniero wasn't totally without some truth. His methods were always some of the most underhanded of the Espada."

"Is that a fact?" Aaroniero inquired sharply, her eyes glaring back at Zommari as she raised her blade with both hands on its grip. "and you're a fair player?"

"Not..." Aaroniero would begin to hear, suddenly feeling the rushed sensation as much as she would see the rapid high speed movement performed by the Arrancar. Spinning upon the balls of her feet, she would parry a thrust towards her back, sending a vast array of sparks to flourish between her and the Espada. During the parry, she would flip backwards, landing a snap kick with her right foot to his chin.

"...Entirely!" She would hear upon landing on the ground, his body seemingly appearing to her left, already slashing diagonally downwards towards her neck.

"**Hadou #33**," Aaroniero began to mutter upon swinging to parry Zommari's sword swing, causing a shower of sparks from the collision. The color of the orange sparks shifted dramatically to a luminous azure shine emanating from her blade. It would only be the sudden realization cast from Zommari's eyes face just before the blade itself would cut through his own, releasing a monstrous gale of fiery blue energy into his body. "**Soukatsui!**"

As the wafting flames of searing Kidou would peter away into the horizon, Aaroniero would hear the sudden buzzes of Sonidos. Followed up would be four bodies identical to Zommari, charging towards her with thrusting blades aimed at ever angle possible.

"_Gemelos Sonído!_" Aaroniero thought with realization, eyes scowling around at the four Zommaris, all of which had their swords thrusting at her direction.

"It's over!" Zommari declared openly through all four mouths. It was during the fraction of time their blades took to reach Aaroniero's personal space that it would give her time to respond accordingly. She swung her blade, all the while crouching as low as she could to avoid the collision of blades above her head that took a few flecks of hair off the top.

"_Some no Mai_," She spoke lowly to herself, "**Tsukishiro!**"

An instant later, the ground would glow a bright circle of white light. Following up with a leap via Shunpo an ice pillar would be erected in place over the sandy ground where all four Zommaris stood. Seconds later the ice would shatter, along with the visages of Sonido Clones residing from within.

"Impressive," Zommari would voice aloud, his body buzzing half a dozen meters behind Aaroniero, causing her to slowly turn to face him as he spoke, "to have the skill to see through my Gemelos Sonído and react accordingly without a hint of hesitation is astounding for someone of your level. You're a lot stronger than I gave you credit for, Shinigami."

"I don't intend on giving you the same advantage I gave him," Aaroniero proclaimed stoically, raising her beautiful Shikai to bear, holding it at an inverted angle parallel to her right cheek. "I assume you're an Espada?"

"Indeed," Zommari nodded his head. Grasping the collarless top of his top, he stretched it down to reveal the top of his left pectoral muscle. There, a distinct black tattoo numbered as seven would be seen. "I'm the Séptima Espada, Zommari Rureaux."

"Since you already know my name, I see no point in my own introduction," Aaroniero responded with narrowed eyes. Taking time in the staredown to comprehend his options, Aaroniero began to ponder. "_Zommari is a skilled opponent when it comes to Zanjutsu and the Hohou Arts. Dragging a battle out here my draw some unwanted attention from the wandering Espada. I rather finish this quickly so I may conclude my _business _here_."

Raising his blade in a goading manner, Zommari noticed that his opponent had yet to make the first move to renew their battle. "What's the matter, Kuchiki? Are you not going to make your move?"

"I'm just thinking," Aaroniero responded curtly.

"Oh?" Zommari inquired, visibly curious yet still very much composed.

"If you're two ranks above the last Espada I killed, why do you seem weaker in comparison?" She questioned, her expression eliciting a goading smile.

"Please," Zommari glared vividly at his target, "don't compare me to the bottom of the totem pole. Aaroniero may have been a crafty opponent and perhaps a bit more Reiryoku than I or the Octava Espada do. But there is one reason why Lord Aizen placed me above the other two."

"Do tell," Aaroniero further jabbed, looking obviously unimpressed, even while in a prepared posture.

"The special ability that lies within my released form," Zommari revealed with a matter-of-fact, if not outright prideful tone. Crouching down, the Arrancar aligned his blade to be horizontal to his upper torso. Slowly releasing his fingers from the Zanpakutou's hilt, the Arrancar placed his hands up in a meditative stance, with palms upright and forefingers touching.

Just short of clapping his hands together, Zommari would hear an opposing shout from his enemy.

"**Sai!**"

"What?!" Zommari exclaimed with shock, finding his hands narrowly halted from clapping together. The binding energy cast upon him was magnetically drawn towards his back, aiming to physically restrain his two limbs. Scoffing incredulously, Zommari began to press his palms together, "you think you can halt my actions with such a puny spell?!"

"**Bakudo #4, Hainawa!**" Aaroniero would follow up with a sudden follow-up swipe of her arm, discharging a serpentine flowing golden rope of energy that would entwine around Zommari's wrists all the way up to his shoulders. The binding energy, further reinforced by Sai, would effectively immobilize Zommari's arms.

"Are you that afraid of my Ressureccion, Shinigami?!" Zommari inquired brazenly, visibly struggling to rip the Kidou using sheer force.

However, he would fail to get the chance.

Faster than Zommari had witnessed the Shinigami moving prior, Aaroniero would thrust her white blade straight into his right pectoral. The Arrancar could only gape at how the edge had specifically targeted his Hollow hole, straight over where his nipple would have been. Such precision combined with force caused the right side of his torso to crack and squelch with visible muscular tear, outright bypassing any Hierro he might have boasted of possessing.

"H-How did you-?!" Zommari began to inquire, eyes shakily glancing down at the shorter Shinigami.

"You were always such an arrogant bastard," Aaroniero's darkly stated, looking upwards with a menacing gleam in her eyes. Pupils would contract and shift into outright slits, predatorily sneering at the sweat-beading face of her colleague. Purposely she would let her own Reiatsu slip into Zommari's corpse so he would know precisely mocked him.

"Impossible!" Zommari uttered aloud, his face contorting one of realization and horror, "you're-!"

"**San no Mai**," Aaroniero enunciated with a widespread, tooth sparkling smile. Swinging the blade in a arc to bisect him from the right pectoral to the left shoulder, an instantaneous flash freezing wave would encompass the wound outright, allowing for a clean frozen cut. "**Shirafune!**"

The shocked expression would be all that Zommari would be allowed to show as his upper half wetly crunched and slapped onto the ground left of his enemy. An audible kick would be made by Aaroniero as she'd kick the lower half over the cleanly severed other half.

Sheathing her blade back into her scabbard, Aaroniero chuckled sinisterly down at her slain ex-comrade, "Serves you right, you show-off. An unceremonious end is fitting for someone who was all about flair and the dramatic. Don't worry, though; I'll make sure to use your powers for a greater calling than you ever had for Lord Aizen."

Placing her hand over his remains, she swiftly transformed it into the Glotonería hand she employed over Gantenbainne. A sickening squelch of shredded muscle and bones later, Zommari's bodily remains would be devoured and absorbed into Aaroniero. His aspect and everything that made him who he was, would be preserved within her own core.

"Now," She said to herself, reverting her hand back to normalcy. Upon sheathing her blade she turned to look at the distant yet still face prone Sado. A swift leap over to his side she eyed him down at her feet. "what am I going to do with you?"

She knew she had options to consider at this point.

While she knew the raging battles taking place elsewhere would attract the most attention, Zommari's disappearing Reiatsu would certainly attract someone's notice. Devouring as many promising individuals, especially those with Hollow powers, would be within her best interest. Then again, she couldn't ignore the cons to that choice either.

"_If I devour Sado, people will start wondering where he is or what happened to his body. There is a small chance that Ichigo Kurosaki may come looking for him. Though with the number of Espada present in Las Noches on top of Aizen's two Lieutenants, I doubt that will be a large issue_," Aaroniero noted to herself, cupping her chin as she examined Sado's unmoving body at her feet.

A distant Reiatsu would suddenly catch her attention. With her eyes gazing in awe at what she could assume would be a cacophony of explosions and shockwaves, she knew it could only be Ichigo Kurosaki and Grimmjow Jeagerjaques.

"_Wait a minute! Wasn't Ichigo being beaten by Ulquiorra? What's going on?!_" Aaroniero found herself doubting what was going on. Immediately she placed her fingers against her temples, activating her advanced Pesquisa to analyze the situation. She began by scoping out the Reiatsus with the highest output and the ones with largest concentration.

"_It seems Uryu Ishida and Renji Abarai are still in battle with Szayel. I don't sense Ulquiora's Reiatsu anywhere. Was he killed? I can't be certain someone of that caliber was taken down by anyone, let alone someone who was obviously on the receiving end last time I checked. Grimmjow seems to be involved somehow, as he's the one fighting Ichigo who's a bit stronger than he was before. With the way I'm feeling this, their battle is coming to a close soon_," She noted. Scanning the other areas of Las Noches, she could tell Ichigo's battle was receiving the most attention by the other high ranking members. Most notably the Tres and Quinto, each of them watching from notable distances the ensuing battle being had.

"_This invasion seems to be getting more complicated with Ichigo's involvement_," Aaroniero thought aloud, releasing the Pesquisa as she opened her eyes. Smiling with a conniving light in her eyes, she could only chuckle to herself, "_perhaps I can use that to my advantage. With all eyes on you, I doubt they're even paying half a mind to what's going on with Szayel's actions._"

A sickening stir of her left hand turning back into a hungry five prong mouth transpired later. Kneeling down, she proceeded to have her tubular proboscis sink its teeth into Sado's body. She could only laugh as she watched with carnal fascination as his body would be broken down and be absorbed into her being.

"The more leverage I gain, the better I stand a chance of surviving this invasion. The more I consume the more I evolve. And soon, before anyone will know it," Aaroniero would finish as the last visible bulge of essence flowed up her arm and into her core, reforming her hand just as she smiled towards the horizon. "I will become unstoppable!"

* * *

**A/N: **This Chapter was a fun one for me. Not just for the fact I could pit a Rukia-esque fight against Zommari, but it was the first time I could literally see Aaroniero using his knowledge of the other Espada and use it against them.

**_EDIT NOTE:_** I added in **an entire new battle.** While I had hesitated, for reasons of increasing the Chapter length beyond comfort levels of some readers, I came back wanting to add this in regardless. Please comment and let me know what you thought of it ^^

Also writing out the various perspectives and changing them up a bit to suit my narrative style was equally enjoyable. I hope you all liked what I did with them, hopefully adding some character development to each well known Espada. Maybe a little more insight, by my own opinion of course, as to what their opinions are of Aaroniero or even what their own personalities are like for, well, why they are what they are.

**Food For Thought**: Aaroniero's specialized Pesquisa, by the way, translates from Spanish to English as, "Mind Search."

Please leave your thoughts and comments below in the Review Section. I hope this story captivates your attention as much as it is enjoyable for myself to write. Until then, I shall see you all on the next update of **A Predator Among Us**!"


	3. A Devil's Fruit

**A Predator Among Us**

* * *

"I've had enough of this shit!" Nnoitra snarled out, planting his jester styled boot on Ichigo's back. Pulling back the Shinigami's sword arm, the Espada began to bend his wrist and twist the forearm. The sound of muscular straining and bones on the verge of snapping entirely were heard. All of the painful sounds would be drowned out by Ichigo's cries of agony, earning more than a handful of sneering chuckles from the Arrancar. "go on! Squeal! I want to hear you scream as I break this precious arm of yours!"

"Itsygo," Nel began to call out, her frail form inert and unable to reach her beloved friend in his time of need. Watching him being brutalized by such a savage entity caused her eyes to water with sadness. Something about this situation, this desperate sadness, tugged something within her heart and mind.

Her head began to throb.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Ichigo howled out loud as he felt further strain placed upon his arm. He knew it would be a matter of seconds before his dominant hand would be cracked and the rest of his limb twisted out of its original shape. Pain flooded his body, rekindling the dulled nerves that had been projecting the stress of his fight with Grimmjow. With little to no spare Reiryoku, his Bankai was useless and his Hollow powers unable to be called upon.

"Itsygo!" Nel cried out louder, her petite hands grasping the loose grains of sand, tears overflowing from her eyes down her cheeks. The pain of distant memories slowly burning into the surface of her mind's eye. It's as if the most painful part of her life reawakened her past as she saw Ichigo endure the most tormenting last moments of this hour.

Her whole body shook.

"Drop the sword already, you bitch!" Nnoitra laughed, further twisting the Shinigami's wrist, feeling it almost give way to the pressure he placed on it.

"Stop it, please!" Ichigo begged pitifully at the top of his lungs.

"ITSYGOOOOOOOOOO!" Nel shouted at the top of her lungs, as her whole body shook with an uncontrollable fluctuation. As if the current Nel and the past one seemed to collide into each other, merge their last moments of outright suffering, and coalesce them together. That shaking would turn into a quaking pressure as her body glowed a bright pink.

Then, it all released at once. A pink gaseous explosion of Reishi discharged out in a wide radius, shaking the ground and filling the air with an immense Reiatsu.

"What?!" Nnoitra halted his torture of Ichigo immediately of what he heard and saw. The cloud of Reishi swirled and billowed around a feminine silhouette, only retaining a familiar shape to both viewers.

"N-Nel?" Ichigo gasped aloud, seeing the figure steadily walk forward.

Even the pair, Nnoitra's Fraccion Tesra Lindocruz whom was restraining Orihime Inoue, looked aghast. While the latter was just as shocked as Ichigo, the prior's memories of her resurfaced in moments. The elegant and powerful Espada had been reborn!

What would be revealed was similar yet entirely different from the child Ichigo had been lugging around. She was a lot taller, the same height as her protector, and possessed a voluptuously curved body. Stray pieces of her ragged cloak now stretched over her waist to cover her upper thighs while her expansive bosom was barely kept decent by her newfound emerald cloth top. Double crescent moon guarded sheathed katana in her right hand, and a newfound stoic expression crossing her face.

The sight of her since her emergence put Nnoitra on guard. Releasing Ichigo, he turned his back on his captive while holding onto his own Zanpakutō. Narrowing his eye, he said with an appraising manner, "You may look a little different, but that really is you, Nelliel-"

His speech would be interrupted by the bodily disappearance of the awakened Arrancar. His eye widened as he felt her presence drop just behind him, causing him to turn his head over his shoulder to see her momentarily grasp a hold of Ichigo. Before he could even raise his weapon to attack, she disappeared again, only to be heard and felt a good dozen meters away.

"You...bitch!" Nnoitra swore aloud with venom, loathing that he lost his catch so easily to her.

As Nelliel held Ichigo's ground prone form, she stared stoically at her former comrade with a protective gait. She could feel Ichigo's ragged breath grow steadier and calmer, putting relief into her heart. It was only when she heard his turn of the head to incline up at her face, that she bothered to look down.

"N-Nel!" Ichigo exclaimed shakily, still recovering from the pain he was experiencing at the hands of his enemy. "is that...really you?"

"Yes," Nelliel responded in a soft, tender voice, "I am. I also want to thank you for protecting me."

"Thank me?!" Ichigo blinked with surprise.

"Yes," The emerald haired Arrancar nodded, "since you protected me since travelling farther into Las Noches, I was able to gather more Reishi to speed up my recovery in my child form. While the blow to my head made me forget who I was, seeing you in pain made me remember and allowed me to release the seal of this technique: **Regresión**."

Standing up, she released her hold on Ichigo to keep a firm grip on her sheathed sword, "You've been protecting me all this time, ever since we met. Now, I'm going to be the one doing the protecting."

"Wait! Hold on a sec!" Ichigo quickly retorted, flipping himself from his back onto his chest, staring up at Nelliel's turned green tressed head as she turned her back to him. "don't tell me you intend to fight that guy?!"

"Don't worry, Ichigo," Nel briefly turned her gaze to glance at him from over her shoulder. Returning her gaze forward at the distantly sneering Nnoitra, a gust of wind would flow across the sandy dunes and plains they stood upon. Her hair flourished up her back along with her ragged top, revealing a single black tattooed number that poetically solidified her next chosen words, "This will all be over in just a minute."

**3**

"_She's...a rank higher than...Ulquiorra?!_" Ichigo gasped aloud at his startling train of thoughts, crashing around enough to cause his eyes to spin.

Just as Ichigo dwelled on these thoughts, dust kicked up into his face, causing his eyes to widen. Her sprint could be compared to a green hued wraith, seeming to pass through the air rather than push it. Scabbard in her left hand, the weapon would be raised up to be horizontally aligned with her bosom, palming the hilt with her right.

Nnoitra, better seeing her due to her bee line direction, raised his double-crescent scythe above his head.

Before he could even swing his scythe down at the rapidly approaching Nel, a sensation of red-hot pain would spread across his chest down to his abdomen. Widening his eye, he'd look down incredulously as a copious amount of blood was shed from his skin. Nel's person seemed to dance with sword in hand, having pierced his skin effortlessly with a quickdraw of her Zanpakutō.

"Why you-!" Nnoitra shouted aloud, finally swinging his weapon down, aiming to catch her in her landing onto the sandy ground before him.

A quick repulsion in the cleft of his double-moon scythe was made, synchronized in a acrobatic twirling leap on Nelliel's part. She made a complete one hundred and eighty degree revolution within the air, her emerald hairs whipping around in a mesmerizing manner that caught Nnoitra by surprise. Was she always this graceful in battle, he would wonder.

Then, face would feel the brunt force of a horizontally aligned, bodily spun snap kick. Enough power was placed to displace the air currents, popping it in a spherical expansive explosion of the wind. Even as the ground indented and sandy grains rose up, Nel would land with a smile on her face, long before Nnoitra's pathetic screams spiraled along with his flailing body. The crash he made into a distant bould was significant enough to cause a sizable shockwave that shook the battlefield, proclaiming in a single impact that followed a stroke of her sword just how powerful she was.

"Is this really...Nelliel's true power?!" Ichigo exclaimed with an exasperated visage, propping himself into an upright position.

Out of the smoke, Nnoitra rose from the strewn debris. His eye was widened to a livid degree, a trickle of blood escaping the corner of his mouth. A visible purple bruise from where Nelliel had struck was seen, further displaying the power she projected into that kick. As if to nail the final blow into the coffin of Nnoitra's humility, he rolled around a single loose object from his mouth and spat it out.

He'd lost a tooth from that kick, explaining the blood leaking from his mouth.

"YOU," Nnoitra yelled out angrily, his tongue pushing out of his mouth, displaying his Espada ranking of 5 while exclaiming loudly, "BLTCH!"

Swiftly, a vast amount of condensed yellow hued Reishi gathered around the tip of his tongue. While he growled with rabid concentration, his pupil contracting to a bead in size. With a backward wave of his arms, Nnoitra shrieked out, releasing a damningly loud Cero expand in a wide gait.

"LOOK OUT, NEL!" Ichigo shouted with alarm, remembering the sight and sensation of pain a Cero placed upon himself. Seeing the mouth of the searing light head towards her, and incidentally himself, struck a chord of fear within his heart.

However, all doubts vanished when Nel's hand lazily stretched forward, catching the Cero. The solar-hued light bent at an arc, roaring around and about Nel's position. The sandy grains held true due to her placement and control, a display of her dominance over Nnoitra's attack.

"The Hell?!" Nnoitra exclaimed with bafflement.

As Nelliel held the Cero, she inhaled deeply, expansively opening her mouth. Within moments, the amassed Cero that was held at bay began to spiral into her ravenous maw. An audible sucking sound similar to a vacuum was heard as the light vanished and the last flickers of Reishi ebbed over her closing mouth.

"Wait a minute-!" Nnoitra shouted with realization, "that's-!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Nelliel screamed out, releasing a torrential fissure of pink bordered white light. Her own signature technique, the **Cero Doble**, flowed forth like a geyser of searing light. Carving a trench of sand as it passed over, it would quickly travel back to the source of the original Cero's launch, aiming to ram straight into the Espada.

Nnoitra barely had time to turn his left side around to have his right weapon wielding side to face the blaze the Cero created. His widened further as he felt the sheer force that was placed upon his skin and Zanpakutō. It brought back so many distasteful memories, something he thought that he'd never revisit.

Then, it exploded.

A dramatic upheaval of orange-golden flames would spurt upwards, like a pillar of molten slag. Curtains of sand billowed around the source of the explosion, parting and waving backwards in the wake of the attack. When the smoke would finally die down, the silhouette of a standing figure would be seen.

Nnoitra's entire right arm bled and displayed burns of the second degree. Steam etched across his weapon, showing that it took some of the brunt of the blast for him. Part of the spoon collar-hood was blasted away, as a result showing part of his opposing cheek being slightly charred by the attack. A vicious and unforgiving sneer worked its way across his face, glaring at Nelliel with the utmost loathing.

"That hurt, you bitch!" Nnoitra yelled out, waving his enormous scythe to the side with emphasis, displaying the bleeding and smoking burns covering his right arm.

"You survived," Nel declared as a statement, rather than a query. Her eyes narrowed within the wake of a soft exhale of resignation. Leaving her scabbard where she dropped it, the former Espada treaded forward with confidence and no hint of fear. As she reached the mark of merely ten meters away, the former Tres Espada raised her blade to point at Nnoitra, its face catching the artificial Sun's rays to create a menacing silhouette across her stoic visage. "it looks like you've grown stronger, Nnoitra. This may take a little longer than I thought."

"Of course it is!" Nnoitra shouted incredulously, leaping forward with both hands on his weapon's pole handle. With a downward swipe, her sword would collide with the cleft of his dual crescent scythe, emphasized with a finalized shout. "I _am_ stronger than _you_!"

"We shall see," Nel returned with a low whisper, as the world around them turned into a shower of sparks and upheaved grains of sand.

* * *

**Chapter 3 - A Devil's Fruit**

* * *

"Nelliel?!" Aaroniero breathed out a gasp. A distant gust of wind rustled her cloak and Shikhakushou, weighed by the Reishi particles that were breathed out by Nelliel's own Reiatsu. The realization that she was not dead made her destination, and the objective of attaining more strength, all the more favorable. A chuckle escaped her mouth as her smile widened with excitement swelling in her chest. "I don't know how you survived, but it matters little now. While you distract that bastard Nnoitra, I'll just help myself to some more spoils of war."

Renewing her sprint, Aaroniero knew haste was of the essence.

"_Spiritual Bodies don't last forever once deceased. If the signature I'm detecting goes out, there's no telling when the body's decomposition into Reishi and disperses in that time,_" Aaroniero calculated within her mind, furrowing her brows with knowing. "_Arrancars themselves seem to have a nasty habit of expiring quickly when they're dealt a fatal blow. I learned the hard way that killing one doesn't necessarily guarantee the same results that transpired with Metastacia. After all, he was designed to come back to Hueco Mundo in death and him retaining Kaien's body helped it have a longer post mortem durability._"

With this in mind, Aaroniero continued her rapid approach towards her goal. That was, until she caught sight of a wall of white cloaked, skull masked Arrancars. Each of them wore black sheathed swords, tucked within the folds of their parallel dyed _obi._ They numbered up to two hundred in total, established in rows of ten to solidify their military efficient posture.

"Exequias!" Aaroniero exhaled with shock, her sandal bound feet skidding across the sand, grinding to a halt before them.

"_**Shinigami,**_" A grated, Hollow voice spoke from behind Aaroniero, followed by the succinct buzz of a Sonido employment. As she turned her head around, she'd see a similar robed Arrancar of slightly taller stature. Instead of an identical skull, it looked more like a skull of a bull mounted onto a human body. The hollow eye sockets hauntingly stared impassively at her, sword already in his right hand and pointed downwards with a sense of ease. "_**we've been tracking you since the disappearance of Privaron Gantenbainne Mosqueda and Séptima Espada Zommari Rureaux. You should hide your Reiatsu a bit better to evade the likes of us.**_"

"_Rudbornn!_" Aaroniero thought with alarm, rearing back and immediately squatting down into a fighting stance. With her hand on her sword's hilt, she narrowed her eyes at the leader of the Exequias, keeping in mind of his subordinates that began to circle around her. "_this isn't good. I never liked Rudbornn even though he's been around quite awhile in Aizen's Army. Leader of a Cleanup crew with a bit too much power for a battalion with little authority outside of Las Noches. If they're here, it means that they must be the only ones aware of my activities...for now._"

"_**Not going to speak?**_" Rudbornn inquired, albeit rhetorically, seeming to take steps forward without waiting for a response. "_**Very well. Let us talk with our blades.**_"

It happened too fast for her liking. One moment, he had been speaking and treading slowly forward. The next he was within her personal space, thrusting his katana towards her heart. Had it not been for her stance of alertness, she wouldn't have been able to draw her sword and redirect it to cut the side of her left arm instead. Completing her unsheathing sword stroke, her blade's edge grinded across Rudbornn's and sliced through the air towards his own chest. Much to her chagrin, it would be repelled with a left handed swipe of his wrist, creating a shower of sparks from the collision; this hardly caused any real damage beyond the superficial laceration to his glove.

Before the two could further engage, Aaroniero opted for a backpedaling Shunpo, her feet touching down upon the sand half a dozen meters away from his reach. While she had no intention of getting close to the myriad of skull headed soldiers, she didn't want to try her luck against the stoic and competent executor. After all, he wasn't known for his thoroughness for naught from what she could remember. Seeing that their leader made no intention of moving forward, she placed her free hand to the scrape placed at her arm, having cut a small tear through her kosode sleeve in the process. Brief glow of healing energy sealed the wound in seconds, allowing her hand to return to the other, where it lied gripping the sword properly.

"_**Good reactions, Shinigami Kuchiki,**_" Rudbornn spoke a bit more formally, lowering his blade to his side as he clenched his free hand. "_**but your Reiryoku is the typical equivalent of a well trained Lieutenant of the Gotei 13. At the level you're at, I'd hardly call you worthy of the challenge of facing you myself.**_"

"I've yet to even try, Arrancar!" Aaroniero spoke insistently, raising her blade up in an upright position.

"**Dance,**" She enunciated in a level tone, causing her Reiatsu to spike and her Zanpakutō to transform. From a standard katana, a beautiful crystalline pearly surface flowed across hilt and blade alike, creating a gleaming white sword. A ribbon stretched from a handful of beads from the pommel spun in a circular motion, revealing the Shikai of the weapon in its complete splendor. "**Sode no Shirayuki!**"

"_So that's the Zanpakutō that slayed Master Arruerrie,_" Rudbornn realized from his impassive stanced position, "_I haven't collected enough data to make a good assessment of her abilities. Time to let the Calaveras unveil her powers for me._"

"Now then," Aaroniero declared in a stoic tone, grasping the sword in both hands, holding it close to her right cheek in a parallel form, "I think it's time I've taken care of you and your men."

A sudden leap forward, and Aaroniero was within Rudbornn's vicinity thanks to a well timed Shunpo. Thrusting her snow hued sword forward, she propelled it with the momentum of her acceleration. The sudden crack of her sword's edge meeting the X shape of two swords crossing over each other in front of Rudbornn's unmoving chest caused her to widen her eyes with shock. Sparks flew and a gust of wind flourished the linen hugging the Arrancars and the Shinigami body that was now hers.

"**_If you intend to take me down,_**" Rudbornn said in a mocking tone, not even bothering to raise his blade. Instead, his Calaveras raised their free hands, spreading their digits apart, with their palms aimed directly at Aaroniero's face. The swift thrum of Reishi being primed would be followed by the violet shining overcast the pair of Ceros made before their hands. "**_you'll have to destroy the entirety of the Exequias!_**"

Aaroniero reacted quickly upon the last words spoken. Releasing the pressure she had been using against Rudbornn's Sword Shield, she employed two Shunpos: the first to outrun the head of the twin ceros, and the second to leap to the side away from the fissures of searing Reishi. Due to her quick response time, she kept herself from suffering any immediate retaliatory damage, putting herself a good distance away from the now exploding dual beams of light that tackled a sand dune a good fifty meters away.

But she didn't find much solace seconds later.

Six buzzes sounded out loud the arrival of more Calaveras. Three of them dropped down with swords ready to stab her from above, while the other three rushed at her from all angles. With blades poised to strike and momentum carrying them, Rudbornn knew physical confrontation would only further their advantage. Instead, she allowed them all to get within her personal space, just before she spread her own feet and slashed her white blade in a purposeful arc.

"**Some no mai, Tsukishiro!**"

In a singular instance of Shunpo, Aaroniero distanced herself away from a upward blaze of freezing light, encompassing the charging Calaveras. Their visages of imminent attack would be captured, frozen on display in a white pillar. Seconds later it would crack and shatter, scattering their remains into the wind in a frosty breeze of decomposing Reishi.

But where she retreated, more of Rudbornn's subordinates lied in waiting. Two Calaveras charged in, one swinging high and the other low, each one responding in perfect synchronization with each other to pressure their Shinigami opponent. A series of metallic impacts created a cacophony of sparks to flourish around the combatants, all of which seemed to push her back with their continuous assault. When a third appeared from behind, via Sonido, Aaroniero briefly looked to the side and narrowed her eyes with decisiveness.

"_Time to get a little innovative!_" She thought, as she swerved her head to the left, dodging a sword thrust from her rightmost opponent. Simultaneously, she pushed her sword up to deflect another impaling strike. Using only one hand to accomplish this feat, she reached out and grappled his sword hand's wrist with her left and began to move. Swinging her body by her vice grip on her enemy, the back of her left arm briefly clapped over the extended right limb, her body spinning around in a 360 degree angle to plant her back to the Calavera's. With momentum powering her grapple, Aaroniero spun on her right heel to spin in a ninety degree right hand turn to slam the Calavera into his comrade's back with a bone-crunching snap. Both of them tumbled forward in a bodily heap that crashed into the unsuspecting third soldier, crashing into him into a small pile of disjointed limbs and white linen fabric.

"**Hadō #33, Sōkatsui!**" Aaroniero chanted aloud, extending her palm towards the struggling bodies just moments prior to a discharge of volatile Reishi left her fingertips. Crossing the space as quickly as any of their Ceros had, the cobalt flames consumed them all in a vibrant explosion, blowing back the sands that the Kidō had carved a good trench through. Even by the time of their demise, twelve more circled around Aaroniero, each holding their swords with readiness and impassive resolve to strike her down.

"_They're staying just outside my range to use Tsukishiro,_" Aaroniero noted with knitted brows of observation, turning her head side to side to observe each of them, "a_nd it seems they aren't all charging in at once. It seems they're wary of engaging in close quarters combat now. Smart bunch, these soldiers of yours, Rudbornn._"

When Aaroniero finished her complimenting analysis, the Calaveras all moved in unison. Raising each of their free hands, they all began to prime what looked like twelve Ceros, creating a distinct overcast of violet light over the immediate environment. Aaroniero's eyes didn't waver this time, keeping her senses sharp to see what they intended to do. They didn't seemed suicidal in their tendencies, so she held her ground to see what their aim was.

At the seemingly last second, all of the Calaveras leaped back and up, firing their Ceros in unison to strike the ground prone Shinigami. As the Calavera Cero collided with each other, it appeared within the light of their combined attacks and immense pillar of rising flames following the explosion. When the shockwave send reverberating waves of sand in all directions, their enemy reappeared and did so behind one of their own.

Thrusting her sword through his chest, she swung her free hand out towards the leftmost enemy, chanting aloud, "**Bakudo #4, Hainawa!**"

In an instant, a golden rope of binding energy discharged from her fingertips, bodily ensnaring the unprepared Calavera. In the same move as she slashed her blade out of her recent kill's right side, letting him fall to the ground limply, she rushed forward with sword in hand. Her accelerated rush of Shunpo allowed her to grind her blade past the guard of a defending soldier, stabbing him through the shoulder, following up with a vicious kick to chest that'd allow her to withdraw the sword and cut his throat in the process.

When Calaveras recovered from their initial shock of her sudden methods, Aaroniero responded accordingly.

Swinging her sword hand's forefingers towards a shimmering arrival of a Calavera to her right, she briefly shouted a brief chant as a lightning bolt of azure light pierced the skull of her enemy with precise aim, "**Hadō #4, Byakurai!**"

The Arrancar subordinate fell limply down to the ground, leaving behind six other figures of white to blur forth, aiming to overwhelm her with relentless attrition. Turning on her heel, Aaroniero tugged on the golden rope still in her left hand, pulling the bound Calavera across the air. Turning their heads to notice too late, the Hollow soldiers were knocked awry as the flying body haplessly collided into their charging frames. This caused the binding Kidō to continuously spew out from the original captive, spraying out into a net of yellow restrictive currents, haphazardly bundling them all up into a ball of limbs and silk covered bodies.

By the time the final three let loose a barrage of Balas from a distance, Aaroniero was already nimbly dodging with a series of Shunpos, hauling her catch behind her just as swiftly. Leaping up to a higher altitude, Aaroniero whipped around the mass of bodies around to arc towards their midst, causing the Calaveras to backpedal to avoid initial contact. What they failed to notice were the words muttered under their enemy's breath, signifying a significant swelling of crimson light rushing down towards the netted caught bodies.

"**Hadō #31, Shakkahō!"**

Any screams that Aaroniero would hear were drowned out by the spherical expansive blast of crimson light of her Kidō. All of the bodies caught within the binding Kidō were instantly rendered into ashen bits, leaving little to no remains behind. The retreating Calaveras were unfortunate enough to not suffer a swift death, their bodies propelled back by the sheer force of the massive explosion created by their adversary. Pitiful cries of pain were heard as their forms, burnt to indistinguishable appearances, trailed down with smoke curling across their charred frames.

Aaroniero took a few moments to admire her handiwork. The high altitude winds flourished her beige desert cloak around her body, her raven tressed bangs flapping around her stoic violet eyes, gazing down at the bodies of still standing mass of Exequias ranks. Seeing that they once again gave her reprieve to come up with a strategy of their own, she didn't hesitate to fully take in her situation.

"_They're all of adequate Lieutenant class, more than a match fighting en masse against me. While I doubt any of them could inflict serious damage to me, it would be unwise to gamble on my body's durability with Rudbornn waiting in the shadows. His power is certainly more than a match for my own, even adding Rukia's to the fold. If I'm to approach him, I need his men out of the way, giving me more of an advantage once again,_" She thought with assertion, raising her sword up in a presenting manner. As if accepting an invitation, two dozen additional Calaveras appeared at varying distances, each with sword drawn and prepared to engage in further combat. Looking side to side, she gathered herself as she planned. "_this won't be easy, but I think I can get rid of them all in one fell swoop._"

During the time the dozen proximate soldiers cautiously approached, their enemy began to emit a emission of Reiatsu. The light azure light radiating off her body whipped her cloak to and fro across her form, just as animatedly as her black bangs over her stoic eyes. Crouching down in the middle of the air she hovered upon, she lowered a free hand down towards her left hip and held her sword's flat against her chest with readiness.

"_I can't hold back against these subordinates of Rudbornn's. I'll have to use_ _the power I used to defeat Zommari. Ten percent of my own Reiryoku in addition to Rukia's should suffice, after all!_" Aaroniero thought with narrowed eyes of focused initiative.

With that thought in mind, Aaroniero moved in a series of dizzying spins within the air. To and fro her cloaked frame would feign aggressive attacks at the Calaveras surrounding her, afterimages being left behind giving the impression of her plethora of Shunpo employments. Sparks flew from sword clashes and various discharges of Balas complementing aimless sword swings by the airborne Calaveras.

When she finally halted her movements, her sword was held in a dramatic turn of the right arm. Her head bowed lowly, obscuring her eyes in the silhouette of her own dark tresses. Her visible mouth would part slightly and whisper in a hallowed tone of finality, "**Shirokyūten!**"

In a matter of seconds, twenty one rings of white light activated upon her command. While the vicinity of her dozen mutual altitude prone enemies were caught in a few of them, the majority were targeted downwards to the grounded ranks of what remained of the Exequias. The pale light soon became pillars of instantaneous freezing ice, capturing all of those in their merciless grasp, imprisoning them in their arctic clutches.

"A fitting name for a technique to destroy an entire army in a single deployed strike," Aaroniero said softly to herself, swinging her sword out in a decisive stroke, causing all of the pillars to shatter at once. Dropping to the ground with a single Shunpo, the collaborated destruction of her technique created a scenery of falling snow and ice particles. The Reishi fell down mesmerizingly, flourishing around her person, covering the crown of her head along with her cloak and the rest of the ground with its majestic coating of frozen moisture.

"I've disposed of your minions, Arrancar," Aaroniero called out, turning her gaze over to the impassive posture of Rudbornn, standing a good distance away from where her attacks made contact. Pointing her blade purposely in a goading manner, she continued with an icy glare projected at his empty eye sockets. "it is your turn to taste the cold edge of my Sode no Shirayuki."

For the longest time, Rudbornn didn't seem to respond. He had watched his Shinigami adversary's movements for sometime, feeling out her abilities and strength using his Pesquisa from afar. Now that she had effectively executed all of the men he had assimilated to combat her, he knew that she was a foe worthy of reckoning among the invaders whom had successfully fought through their opposition.

A scoffing laugh would be let loose from the skull-headed Arrancar, promoting the confidence he felt in his own abilities, "_**Your Zanpakutō wasn't even able to scratch past my Hierro, and you think just because it's in a released state that it can harm me now? You seriously overestimate your abilities if you think my Calaveras and I are on the same level.**_"

When Rudbornn finished speaking, he'd find himself staring at a wide expanse of snow, geysering towards his direction. He didn't even manage to see the four spouts of icy Reishi that Aaroniero had poked into the ground before her feet, just the result of a tidal wave of icy wave of freezing Reiatsu. For some reason it reminded him of Hueco Mundo's sands, hurdling straight at him and intent on crushing him underneath its dense weight.

Wordlessly, Rudbornn swung his sword in an upward stroke at the pillar of freezing wind. This caused the attack to be bifurcated, straight down the middle in the wake of a transparent wave of violet Reiatsu projected from his sword swing. To his surprise, the flakes of snow did little to disturb the environment other than pass over it, leaving trails of majestic light of white and blue.

More disturbingly, his enemy disappeared from the point of the attack's launch. It would only be thanks to his Pesquisa that he'd notice movement out of the corner of his eye, masked by the passing vapors of super cold air. Spinning upon the ball of his right foot, he'd lean his upper body to the left to avoid a beheading diagonal stroke of the pearly hued edge of his adversary's weapon.

As he evaded, he returned in kind with a right handed overhead strike at the diminutive proportioned Shinigami, earning a two-handed defensive stance to absorb his sword's strike. Snowflakes and sparks flew from the two opposing swords, violet eyes meeting empty sockets. A smirk donned upon Aaroniero's face, her gaze drifting upon the frozen shallow cut made upon the right cheekbone of the Arrancar's mask. Though it might as well been superficial, the sight of frozen moisture having spread a good few inches of the mask's surface was enough to warrant attention with a slight jerk of the Arrancar's head.

"Do I warrant your attention now, Arrancar?" Aaroniero asked in a jeering sneer.

"**_You are an enemy worth destroying,_**" Rudbornn responded coldly, his body eerily glowing alight a violet hue in readiness for the battle that will follow. "**_you should feel privileged enough to cross blades with the likes with me. And then, you shall feel despair for ever challenging the Captain of the Exequias!_**"

* * *

**Palace of the Raging Seas**

Tier felt in awe of what she was witnessing. Where she had witnessed a true battle between Ichigo Kurosaki, someone who imitated Hollow powers to the extent that she could believe him to be an Arrancar, do mortal combat against Grimmjow Jeagerjaques. The titanic struggle left sand dunes collapsed, towers and spyres alike crumbled with every haphazard collision of their bodies or mutual attacks. The sky literally darkened in the wake of the Sexta's **Desgarrón**, using immense force to intend on destroying the Substitute. Incredibly, before awe-opened eyes of the Tres Espada, Ichigo had defeated Grimmjow soundly. **  
**

Then came Nnoitra Gilga.

The repulsive vulture of war, he cared not for honorable fights or lived by any meaningful code that his nearly slain brother had, by his own hands no less. All he cared for was bloodshed and remaining on top, never to be looked down on by those of higher stature. He made no secret of his loathing for her, saying that her predecessor was a lot like her but more disgusting as he put it. From the way he talked, it appeared he had killed the last Tres through treachery, though she found no evidence that he had done such a feat.

After the barbarian was enjoying torturing the fading signature she knew was Ichigo Kurosaki's, a sudden pulse rocketed from the horizon. Almost as assuredly she closed her eyes with resignation that the fight was reaching a close, a mushroom cloud of sakura hued Reishi in the form of smoke flourished to life. Her blonde lashes blinked rapidly to convey her passively stoic face a moment of rare surprise.

"_This Reiatsu,_" She breathed out in a gasp behind her aquatic breather collar, "_it feels as if its a genuine Arrancar...of Espada Class?!_"

Her Fraccion had been within their own form of rapt silence. Since their leader demanded their attention to be fixated where hers was, they didn't have the nerve to snap at each other or question her intentions. One major battle after another, they now understood why their mistress didn't act immediately. The force combatting Nnoitra that had emerged quite literally from nowhere was in a league all its own.

"_If that is my predecessor, coming back for revenge, I wouldn't blame her,_" Tier concluded with a cold glare aimed at the shockwaves to follow such a battle, "_that beast has no place among the Espada. If he dies it is only due to his own foolish bloodthirst._"

* * *

**The Howling Wolf Palace**

"What the-?!" Lilynette cried out, sitting upright from her own much smaller pile of cushions next to Starrk's. Looking swiftly to her right, past Starrk reclining form, her visible eye open wide. In her mind's eye, she could sense the Reiatsu signature as if she was staring through the wall with a telescopic intensity that burrowed through the solid palace walls.

"Hmph?" Starrk inquired groggily, turning his face down positioned jaw so that its drooling cavern be exposed along with a single lazy eye, "what's up, Lily?"

"It's Nelliel! It has to be!" The young girl cried out with excitement, a light shining in her eye that erased the look of melancholy she shared with the drowsy man.

"Huh?" Starrk inclined his head up, blinking a few times, eyes expanding to express his own shock. "it...it really is her!"

For a few moments, the pair were both pleasantly surprised to feel the all too familiar presence of Nelliel from afar. While they were still looking for more Vasto Lordes to join Aizen's cause, Nelliel would frequently commune with the fellow Espada when she wasn't keeping an eye on the more rambunctious members of the army. Changing from cheerful and laid back to stoic and composed, she was one of the few that both could agree was a dear companion of theirs. From the way Nnoitra put it, she was ambushed with her guard down, and he buried her body where it fell. It wasn't something that sat well with them but something they couldn't challenge him, especially when they found a replacement so quickly after.

With their thoughts of the past, they too would also sense a secondary Reiatsu burning menacingly at a similar level and closer in proximity to the one that got their attention: Nnoitra Gilga.

"H-He's fighting her!" Lilynette gasped aloud, just realizing what this all meant. "he's trying to kill her!"

"We don't know that-" Starrk tried to reassure her, suddenly finding himself talking to empty space. Shifting his gaze, he saw the quickly retreating form of Lilynette as she sprinted out of the room and into the empty hall, "oi! Where are you going?! Lily!"

Lily briefly halted her escape of the room, stopping dead in her tracks. While this caused Starrk to stare at her with bewilderment, Lily began to speak in a solemn tone, "You keep mourning the fact that you can't be close to your friends. You tell me to mingle and be with them on my own, while not encouraging me to help them when they're in trouble. What you're doing isn't protecting them...it's you being a coward!"

Starrk's eyes blinked widely from his lounged position. He couldn't find the words to respond, let alone the will to deny what she said had merit or not. Looking down, he felt the next words jab at him as painful as a blade running through his chest.

"How can you call yourself the Primera if you can't fight for the ones you cherish?!"

It was shortly after a brief buzz of a Sonido was deployed that Starrk could feel her presence retreating. Lowering his eyes to half mast, he sighed raggedly and reclined once more onto his cushions. Rolling over to stare at the wall, the direction he could feel Nelliel's Reiatsu brim with intensity, he could only exhale sadness.

"I'm sorry..."

* * *

While the attention lied upon the former Tres Espada and current Quinto, another battle of epic proportions ensued beyond. Over distant sandy dunes lied a recessed valley, sporting a number of craters courtesy of Reishi explosions and Reiatsu collisions. Frost caked parts of the sand still not disturbed, yet soon would melt or dissipate into flakes of Reishi once again once the combatants in question would reappear.

One metal collision later of steel meeting literal cold steel would usher in the reappearance of the two warriors. Both fighters would feel the reverberations of force flow over their respective attire, flapping wildly around their forms. A single exerted thrust followed by a wave of violet colored Reishi would cause the female of the pair to be knocked across the air away from his person.

Recoiling from her latest parry, Aaroniero backpedaled within the air just a few meters above the sandy earth below.

"_His swordplay is certainly worthy of reckoning. I can't seem to find any openings since that one scratch I've left him,_" She noted to herself with knitted brows of frustration.

"**_You do well to stave off my attacks,_**" Rudbornn complimented, holding his sword parallel with his armed shoulder. With a turn of the wrist, the sharpened edge turned towards the horizon that its intended target lied. A brief pulsation of Reishi would be seen, coloring the blade into a solid mass of violet outlined white light.

"_Here it comes!_" Aaroniero thought, using one hand to raise her blade to the forefront and the other to be held out cautiously to her side.

A single swipe of the sword in a perfect horizontal arc, Rudbornn let loose a wall of high velocity launched Balas. Screaming forth, the speed coupled with the distance their target resided, it would only take a handful of seconds for the enemy to respond.

Thankfully, it was all the time that Aaroniero needed.

Whipping her free hand out, the Shinigami bodied Hollow rapidly discharged four Shakkahōs in a spread shot manner. Not bothering to dodge the rest, she nullified the ones aimed closest to her body, detonating the Kidō cannon shells against the violet hued orbs. The smokescreen created by the following explosion was great enough to send Balas careening to and fro across the sandy vista, uprooting dozens of meters of sand, creating a cacophonic display of haphazard destruction.

Rudbornn cautiously observed the cloud of smoke, noting his Pesquisa indicated her still living status. He half expected another pillar of snow to erupt from the expansive radius of sulfur and ozone. Instead he noted a shimmering flash of white steel, with a singular shimmering silk ribbon tailing its tsuba.

"**_Throwing your own sword?_**" Rudbornn spoke incredulously, his body blurring to the left instinctively to evade the rapidly approaching weapon, "**_a bit reckless of you, Shinigami!_**"

The last thing he expected the thrusting sword was to change directions entirely. Turning around to position its sharpened edge in line of the Arrancar's head, the glistening pale sword swung around in a decapitating arc.

"**_How?!_**" Rudbornn gasped under his breath, his body squatting narrowly to evade instant death. He didn't even notice the tip of his rightmost horn fall towards the ground, paying more attention to the near transparent chain of ice attached to the ribbon of the blade. With the smoke parted from the sword movement, he could see his adversary's right hand extending outwards, weaving a interlocking series of icy links to keep hold of her sword from afar.

"**Tsukishiro!**" Aaroniero enunciated aloud, causing the Arrancar to jerk his head around himself in panic. A brilliant blaze of freezing light materialized in moments, already stretching towards the heavens and the earth in a precisely carved circle. Just short of its full formation, a blur of white linen rocketed at a downward angle, plummeting into the sand in the hasty rush to evade the freezing prison she had constructed.

"**_That was too close,_**" Rudbornn heaved, still feeling the icy traces cling to his mask. Particles of frozen moisture quickly became brittle and crumbled around his shoulders and arms, a testament to how close to death or incapacitation he had been, "**_had I hesitated a second longer..._**"

The Arrancar trailed off upon feeling a Shunpo deployed a handful of meters behind him.

"**Bakudo #61,**" Rudbornn turned his head, seeing an upraised left forefinger, glowing vibrantly with elliptical stretching light. A single pointed gesture, and the light would spread outwards, singing through the air with the intention of jabbing into Rudbornn's body. "**Rikujōkōrō!**"

What happened next took Aaroniero by surprise. Instead of seeing six golden rods of rectangular shape ram into the Arrancar's body, the bull-headed Hollow spun in a 360 degree angle with sword outstretched. This created a visible field of repulsion around his person, flashing a vibrant purple flare upon the Bakudo's impact with it, shattering the miniature columns of binding energy.

"_He stopped it?!_" Aaroniero thought with widened eyes of surprise.

"**_Was that supposed to be your trump card?_**" Rudbornn asked incredulously. Seeing his enemy's weapon return to her grasp with a tug of the ice rope, he rose to full stature with renewed confidence. "**_I'm sure you're probably unaware, but the battle you've won with Master Arruruerie wasn't simply noticed, but recorded. From the time you thought you had the upperhand you had displayed the ability to use Kidō. I had perfectly analyzed the spell you utilized in that battle and came up with a perfect way of dispelling it._**"

Grinding her teeth together, she couldn't help but fixate a scowl at the Arrancar's soulless eyes. She had planned on incapacitating Rudbornn right then and there, taking time to kill him quickly so she could assimilate him at her own pace. But seeing that he could actually develop a tactic for Kidō he's seen only once, especially one of such a high level, and counter them didn't bode well for her.

"**_With all of the Kidō you've been using, I feel obligated to enlighten you about myself,_**" Rudbornn grated further, raising his blade to point at his Shinigami opponent.

A second later, Rudbornn rushed forth in the wake of a well timed Sonido, appearing just in front of Aaroniero's proximity. His blade appeared to be coated in a brilliant purple fire, swinging down in a bifurcating motion towards her left side.

"Ngh!" Aaroniero quickly raised her up to block it, perpendicular to the vertical arcing sword stroke. As a safeguard to keep from being overwhelmed, she placed her left palm to steady the far bladeless backside of her weapon, pushing back against flaming sword of Rudbornn's. What perplexed her was the fact the flames themselves didn't feel hot, even at this close proximity.

"**_Existencias Hueso!_**" Rudbornn called out, causing the vibrant tongues of purple and white burning along his blade to transform in shape. Flowing outwards, the flames spewed forth virulent lit bonds in the form of chains. They flowed over the sword without care and wrapped around her arms, flourishing over her shoulders and around her neck. Aaroniero could only gasp and grunt with confused strain, trying to rid herself of the energy that wrapped around her.

"**_It is too late to resist,_**" Rudbornn chided, backing up a meter to observe his technique's handiwork. "**_upon being endowed with the responsibilities of being Captain of the Exequias, I've taken upon myself to study the Shinigami arts of combat, to better my own abilities and to dispel their various powers. One such ability I had crafted for myself is a handful of binding spells, similar to that of your Bakudo style Kidō._**"

Upon finishing his explanation, the malevolently restrictive currents of Reishi finally stabilized. Its form appeared to be a skeletal form of a stocks, with alabaster hued material holding her sword wielding hand outwards along with her unarmed hand. With several chains jutting out from the ends of the stocks themselves, piercing the sandy earth for better purchase, it didn't look like there would be any movement on the Shinigami's part for the time being.

"**_This is my execution restriction spell, Existencias Hueso,_**" He elaborated with a swing of his sword, standing satisfyingly in front of his bound foe, "**_it keeps the arms completely immobilized, along with the head and rest of the body. I've noted that your Zanpakutō acts much like your Kidō, needing your hands to gesture in any given direction in order to manifest a spell or an attack. Keeping your hands restricted destroys your only form of offense and defense. You've lost, Shinigami._**"

"It certainly seems that way," Aaroniero said lowly, fixating her violet eyes up with begrudging admittance to her foe. "seeing as you've captured me, singlehandedly doing what the other two Espada failed to do. I can only wonder one thing..."

"**_What that might be?_**" The Arrancar inquired, feeling relaxed in his position of superiority over his captive.

"You pride yourself by being a Captain of this organization of yours, yet you keep referring to any Espada as Master. You're easily stronger than the last two Arrancars I've slain, yet you're subservient to them? I'm finding that hard to believe..." Aaroniero trailed out, allowing a smirk to work its way across her face.

"**_Hmph, a fair question, given it is one I've asked myself many a time,_**" Rudbornn huffed aloud, stabbing the edge of his sword into the ground, placing his palm onto the upraised pommel in a casual manner. "**_Lord Aizen has gifted me with great power, and with that power he also allowed me to be taught many things I would have not known as a simple Hollow. Yet, for whatever reasons, he lets inferiors in as his complementary best generals and warriors. Does he not see the command and prowess I utilize my troops so effectively? Am I not qualified to be one of his confidants? These questions plague me every night I spend in this wretched sun-filled place, watching and doing the whims of those who'd use my talents for their own ends. My duties are for Lord Aizen's sake, yet they use me as their personal puppet?!_**"

"You seem to do all the dirty work yet with very little reward," Aaroniero noted with an upraised brow, her smirk receding into a solemn expression. "why go out of your way to hunt me down? Was I in your way or was it for somebody else's agenda?"

"**_I was hunting down the Privaron Espada and those they've engaged in combat. Simply put, I was to kill those who remained standing, on the behest of another Espada, of course,_**" He explained bluntly, now sounding more disgruntled than he would have prior to the conversation.

"For someone with so much pride in his duties, they certainly don't appreciate your efforts. Why even serve Aizen when he doesn't even use your abilities to your greatest capability?" Aaroniero prodded.

"**_I am indebted to Lord Aizen for the powers I possess now. Without him, I would be but a lowly beast, imitating intelligence while scavenging on my own kin for power and proclamation of dominance. However, these Espada, I only have a few that I truly admire and respect. The ones who've been ordering me as of late, do not,_**" Rudbornn spoke in a darker, more bitter tone than before. Grasping the hilt of his sand planted sword, he unsheathed it, causing a visible spray of sparks to appear where he had withdrawn his weapon. "**_I will have words with the one who commanded me so carelessly without thought of my own integrity. As Captain of the Exequias, these tasks I've been performing have impugned my honor, and I will not allow one Espada to take advantage of my resources for his own authority._**"

As he spoke these words, the upper partition of Aaroniero's stock jettisoned like a rocket from its placement. Looking up, she could see it rise high up into the air, changing in shape as it slowed its ascent. A simple bone clad block turned into a guillotine blade with massive cleaver edges on either flank, a skull fixated on either side of the grim appearing weapon. It took little imagination to the currently bound Shinigami bodied Hollow what was to come next.

"**_In respect for your combat prowess I will grant you a swift execution,_**" Rudbornn grated out, raising his blade in a slow purposeful motion over his head, as if controlling the now airborne idle weapon.

"Before you do, there's something you should know," Aaroniero quickly said aloud, her eyes locking coolly at Rudbornn's.

Rudbornn, unnerved by how calm and collected his enemy was in the face of imminent death, couldn't help but ask, "What's that?"

"You made a grave error in making the assumption I couldn't do anything with my body immobile and my arms kept bound," She said with a smile, her words producing a now visible cloud of vapor. With every passing second, it appeared that during the time Rudbornn spoke of his predicament and origins, her complexion had turned remarkably paler and glossier. As if her skin was being replaced with a crystalline surface, she began to sparkle within the refraction of the artificial Sun's glare, "and that my Zanpakutō requires the blade to move in order to be used."

Before Rudbornn's eyes, he saw the unthinkable occur. The binding stocks began to be frozen over, becoming brittle and cracking by simply being in contact of the Shinigami's body. Webbing out in fraying fissures, the cracks began to become more severe as seconds ticked by, spreading out to even the chains holding down the ground mounted bindings holding her.

"**_I won't let you-!_**" Rudbornn shouted with defiance, swinging his sword down, succinctly causing the levitating guillotine to rocket downwards. Even as he watched the double-edged cleaver race downwards, he saw the entirety of his binding spell become completely encased in ice.

"HA!" Aaroniero exclaimed with a shout, flexing in an upward manner, shattering her bindings in an effortless shrug. In doing so, she evaded the sand eviscerating blade, plunging into the uneven grained earth before her feet, burrowing below the earth where it would be nullified in its effectiveness.

"Thanks for running your mouth," Aaroniero said with a cheeky grin, taking time to exhale calmly, her visage slowly returning the warmth back to her complexion, "if you hadn't given me so much time, I wouldn't have been able to lower my core temperature to a level that have frozen your spell. If you had just followed up with your capture of me, you probably could have killed me. Probably..."

At the moment, Rudbornn couldn't speak. He could only let out long grated breaths, sending puffs of steam between his skeletally displayed rows of teeth. And for the first time since their encounter, a purple gleam emerged behind his empty sockets, glowing with apparent indignant anger.

"**_Well played, Shinigami,_**" He spoke with a seething breath, followed by a grated snarl, "**_you succeeded in escaping death's door. However, you've only delayed the inevitable. I stake my reputation that you'll die when I unleash the full brunt of my power upon you!_**"

"Go ahead," Aaroniero responded confidently, holding Sode no Shirayuki in a two-handed kendo stance, "I'll crush you at your best. Then you'll see the true gap between us and what makes you special insignificant!"

At the mention of last few words, Rudbornn couldn't help but laugh. Holding his sword in a horizontally aloft manner, the Arrancar rebuked his enemy openly, "**_That confidence of yours is misplaced. Allow me to show you the error of your folly!" _**

What came next would be a brief flare of his Reiatsu. Bathed in a dark violet light, hints of darkness clinging to his frame, it sent waves of malevolent pressure within the wind that billowed from his person. Then, with a single visible gleam in both of his eye sockets, the transformation occurred.

"**_Grow, Árbol!_**" He enunciated in a deep, presenting manner. Once he had done so, the sword transformed into the shape of a stark white lightning bolt, being composed of solid metallic bone. Yellow colored roots wrapped around his right arm all the way up to his shoulder while grey hued roots as thick as his torso spiraled down into the sand below. Finally, four jagged electric shaped branches stretched out of his right shoulder, displaying a number of familiar looking skulls along its surface.

As the roots dug into the ground, his body began to rise upwards, assuming a towering stance overhead the Shinigami adversary. Waving his newly shaped weapon offhandedly, Rudbornn said with bemusement, "**_You once said earlier that you've disposed of my minions. I believe you underestimate the true essence of my Calaveras. Behold!_**"

What appeared before Aaroniero's eyes caused her mouth to hang open agape with morbid fascination. The skulls began to spew out white goop from the underside, stretching and contorting into shapes akin to humanoids. What followed later was the manifestation of clothes and facial features, dropping the newly created bodies of the creatures that were dropped like demented offsprings off a product line. Standing upward, the four marched onward in front of their creator, while new skulls quickly took their place and began manufacturing more.

"**_My Calaveras are the byproduct of my power to create. It is the reason why I, the 61st Arrancar of Lord Aizen's Army, was given a title among all the other Numeros who aren't of Espada Class,_**" Rudbornn declared, pointing his jagged tipped weapon before her, as another four dropped down to join those who now stand in front of his gnarled form. "**_you may have defeated the Noveno and Séptima, but you will go no further. Your mayhem in Las Noches ends here, at the hands of my infinite army!_**"

* * *

While the battle of Legion Spawning Arrancar ensued against the Shinigami imposter, the fight between former superior and subordinate raged on. The intensity of their many exchanged filled the air. Broad double-headed scythe met katana, producing shockwaves that rattled the ground and produced showers of sparks with every impact.

The result of the continuous conflict showed upon the body of the Quinto Espada. Bleeding profusely from many lacerations across his arms and chest, it appeared as if Nelliel had gotten past his guard many a time. Bruises placed across splotches of visible skin that hadn't been cut were seen across his chest and limbs respectively. Even his spoon shaped hood was halfway blown off, the result of another well placed Cero by Nelliel herself.

Yet, despite all of these injuries, Nnoitra looked uninhibited in continuing his assault at his loathsome rival. Swinging his blade in with both hands downwards, the inner crescent edge grinding down against Nelliel's upraised sword held now by both of her hands. The sight of her forced to her knees in a squatted stance brought a overbite smile to the Arrancar's face, revelling in seeing her pushed down by his own power.

"What's wrong, Nelliel?!" He jeered, eye glaring down at her passively stoic eyes. "not effortlessly beating me now, are ya?! Was that all talk or are you out of shape from not fighting all of these years?!"

Nelliel didn't respond vocally. She simply grimaced, though if it was by the pressure of her enemy's blade or something on her mind, Nnoitra couldn't read. The fact she was so unreadable furthered his anger at the female warrioress.

"You still think you're better than me, even when I'm getting the best of you?!" Nnoitra shouted incredulously, his eye widening with abstract rage. Rearing back his weapon, he thrust it back down towards her sword, finding it only to strike the sand as her form disappeared within a burst of high speed. Looking up, he'd see her crouched form rise a handful of meters away from his front, her bangs no concealing her stoic gaze. If Nnoitra cared to analyze her expression, one would say it looked mournful.

"You're always so damned proud of yourself," Nnoitra growled, retracting his weapon from the ground, sneering at her with his Zanpakutō held aloft in his right hand while he waved his left hand for emphasis. "following me around, making sure I'd be kept an eye on, seeing me as a lowly beast! You remember when you called me that?! I've never forgotten all those things you said to me, and how you viewed me as nothing more than an inferior who needed to be looked after by one so higher than me!"

Thrusting his weapon pointedly in her direction, Nnoitra visibly twitched with bloodthirst for the woman that stood not but a handful of distance away. "I've gotten stronger, and built up my powers for one goal. To surpass what you used to be. And yet here you are, perfectly intact and just the way I remember you. Now I have a chance to truly show you what those years of your absence has done for me and how little it has done for you!"

Throwing his weapon up into the air, the Arrancar began to howl with maniacal joy, spinning it by the chain attached to his waist. With every revolution the weapon made in the air, an increase of twisting friction the air currents had. Siphoned around in a circle until a dust twister revolved around the two of them, Nelliel continued to look forlorn and unreadable as he spun his weapon above his head.

"DIE!" Nnoitra yelled out, hurtling his chain downwards, sending his rotating double-headed scythe towards Nelliel's form.

It was during the high velocity thrust that Nnoitra noticed the blur of motion Nel's person became. Leaping above the hurtling weapon, she flipped forward until the chain stretched out at its limit, the blade cleaving a good amount of grained landscape behind her with its momentum. With her landing, she landed atop the chain and planted her sword in the middle of the links holding it, pinning the weapon's hold from the owner.

As Nnoitra stared briefly with confusion, he returned the glare at her for moving so gracefully out of the path of his weapon. It made him feel sick just seeing her act so cold and detached from his rants. It was like she wasn't even aware he had a vendetta against her.

Then, she spoke.

"You're such a child, Nnoitra," Nelliel said with a low tone.

"WHAT?!" Nnoitra howled out.

"Even after all this time, you refused to mature. I cannot understand your destructive mentality, nor your abhorrence of compassion and mercy," Nelliel explained, her eyes finally raising to lock onto Nnoitra's singular one. "even as I fight you, as I keep my hand from ending your life, you don't have a desire to listen to reason. It seems there is no other recourse but the action I have to regrettably take."

"What are you getting at you-?!" Nnoitra began to ask when he suddenly felt a dramatic spike of Reiatsu, coming straight off Nelliel's person. There was no exhale of Reishi, no distilling of the land or crumbling of the ground beneath her feet. It was simply a sudden incline of power, as if it was lying in wait until this moment to show itself. And the sensation of its visible warping properties brought beads of sweat to crawl down Nnoitra's scalp. "-you...you were holding back this whole time?!"

Nelliel didn't respond. Instead a current of pink light began to swirl around her sword, the essence seeming to be empowered by the very land around it. Grains of sand, the ambient atmosphere, and even the wind began to twirl around and funnel towards her blade. The sudden sight of the sword's condensed Reiatsu force caused Nnoitra's eye to expand with dreadful alarm.

"You've left me no choice, Nnoitra," Nelliel said in a low monotone.

"DAMN YOU, WITCH!" Nnoitra howled out, pulling the chain violently, causing it to snap under the weight of Nelliel's sword. Seeing this, the Arrancar rapidly vaulted and leaped for his scythe, disregarding the chain links he now untied from his person. By the time the pole handle was in both of his hands, he returned his sight to see Nelliel already moving towards his proximity.

He'd swing as she did, yet in the flash of light, only he could feel pain.

"GAAAAAAUGH!" Nnoitra exclaimed with outright pain, as a diagonal geyser of blood ejected from his chest. This would be synchronized by the forward flip of his bifurcated top end of his Zanpakutō somersaulting forward away leaving a steaming trail in its tumbling wake. The wound, contrasting the first cut that followed many, would be much deeper and cause the staunch Arrancar to heave with every breath he took.

"You can fight no longer, Nnoitra," Nelliel said declaratively, swinging her blade to the side, disposing of the flecks of blood clinging to the edge of her sword. "if you allow Tesra to tend to your wound, you may survive. But if you continue exerting yourself, you will die."

"You...stupid...bitch!" Nnoitra grunted aloud, wheezing as he raised his weapon above his head, "whatever made you think...that this fight...is over?!"

Nelliel's eyes widened, suddenly seeing a demented golden color of Reiatsu emanate from his person. The ground stirred around his feet at the sudden build-up of Reishi, swirling around his soles and soon billowing out to produce a continuous projection of wind. The ground quaked and the air distorted with such intense power being unleashed, showing that there was some merit to the Quinto's words.

Realizing what it could mean, however, Nelliel reached out and shouted with warning with eyes opened wide, "Nnoitra-!"

"**_PRAY,_**" He uttered gutturally, a bloody smile stretched ear to ear across his maniacal face, "**_SANTA TERESA!_**"

Retracting her hand, Nelliel backpedaled away at the last moment before a colossal wind barreled over the ground she once stood upon. The brilliant blaze of yellow colored Reiatsu thrummed over the landscape. Nel stared with abstract horror, at what was unleashed before her eyes.

"Idiot, I tried to warn you!" Nelliel thought with her teeth biting down into her lower lip.

As suddenly as the winds came, they vanished along with the Reiatsu created light. In the spectrum of haze created from the release, it appeared as if a crescent moon was pointing upright. When the smoke effectively cleared, one could see Nnoitra's prided Ressureccion in all of its glory. Standing tall with six arms, each one holding a behemoth crescent shaped scythe, Nnoitra's left vacant eye that revealed his Hollow hole complemented the pair of horns jutting out of his skull at irregular angles and lengths.

With a wide gleaming smile, Nnoitra couldn't help but chuckle, finding that all of his wounds, save for the most recent one had been healed. The scar was fittingly on display over his exposed chest, as if it was more of a trophy and testament to his refusal to die. It made him savor the release of power he had now, and the look on Nelliel's face at seeing it.

"It's been awhile since you've seen my Ressureccion, hasn't it, Nelliel?" Nnoitra asked rhetorically, looking onwards with a pleased expression. He began clenching and moving his arms with emphasis. "I've increased the arms I can manifest since last time. There'll be no way that you can get past me now, not even with your great speed."

Bowing her head, Nel sighed with resignation. Raising her blade in a horizontal alignment, she placed her free hand behind the flat of her Zanpakutō, whispering lowly, "I didn't want to use this unless I absolutely had to. Resuming my original state so soon when using this might exhaust me..."

"Go ahead!" Nnoitra goaded with his smile intact, grinding his scythes together in a provocative manner. "I ain't afraid of you or your Released Form! I'm invincible when Santa Teresa is activated!"

Without further ado, Nelliel breathed out in a solemn tone, "**Declare, Gamuza!**"

A brief elliptical light shined across her blade, obscuring Nnoitra's sight of her weapon. What came next would be an earth-shattering release of pink-bordered white light, rolling in a spherical manner that grinded and tore apart the earth. Such fierce winds would be enough to make Nnoitra squint and raise his blades in a protective manner. The sheer weight and raise of Reiatsu wouldn't be lost to him, as his brow would project a bead of sweat by what he felt.

A swing of the arm later, and Nelliel's true form was revealed. Her scarred mask, now a helmet devoid of the crack, wrapped around her her emerald mane covered head. A white armored pair of pauldrons was mounted over her shoulders, with a series of identical pieces of armor plating wrapped around black linen material over her limbs, ending with a pair of finger covering white gauntlets. The rest of her body, from the waist down, was a brown furred centauress body, complete with a black tail and two pairs of hooves. Her Zanpakutō, now in her right hand, appeared to be a double-sided corkscrew shaped lance.

"_The scar on her mask closed up,_" Nnoitra noted with a scowl, seeing only a few teeth of the mask fragment missing in its released state, "_she really is back to full power._"

"Remember what I say from this point," Nelliel declared aloud, earning her a glance by Nnoitra, "you brought this upon yourself!"

* * *

**The White Citadel, The Communications Hub**

Gin had been quite amused with what was unfolding.

Having taken the liberty of monitoring the ongoings of the invaders' progress, he had been tracking each and every battle to the best of his ability. Each one showed progression in strength on most of their parts. Uryu Ishida showed more tact and better tools befitting his named heritage. Ichigo Kurosaki has better tamed his Hollow powers. And Rukia Kuchiki had dealt with her severe handicap of fighting such a nefarious foe.

"_Aaroniero had never been one to play it fair,_" Gin thought with a thin lipped grin. Just as soon as he had felt the Synchronized Cognition broadcast from the dying Aaroniero, he soon checked the camera angles around his quarters. Much to his dismay, it appeared Aaroniero had removed all surveillance devices from within his halls, making only the vague outline of his deceased form as much confirmation to backup the mental projection's authenticity.

Then he noticed Rukia's battles soon after. While it appeared she was heading towards one of her friends to heal them, she knelt above the defeated Privaron whom had been dealt with by her own comrade's hands. Curious, Gin watched her put a hand onto the Arrancar's chest and then proceeded to, for lack of a better word, eviscerate his body and cause it to disappear.

"_What the Hell?_" Gin thought with a blink of the eyes, his crimson irises gleaming with bafflement at the phenomena that had transpired. He'd watch further, witnessing Zommari Rureaux engage in mortal combat with her. Impressed with her fighting style's improvement since her fight, what little he saw of it, with Aaroniero, he'd then briefly note how Zommari's expression changed to fear and stark realization just prior to his death.

While he possessed no audio, it appeared as if Rukia looked down at the corpse, disdaining it as if she knew it. Kneeling down, he began to watch the two halves of the body become consumed in what he could only see was a tendril maw emanating from her left hand. As she proceeded to stand over Chad's body, pondering as if to consume him as well, the pieces began to fit in Gin's mind.

"_The only reason Aaroniero was inducted into the ranks of the Espada and has remained consistently Novena for all these years was because he ate that Hollow. The one that kept its shape, form, and the essence of whatever it devoured. I forget the name, but I don't forget it had the ability to merge its spiritual essence with anyone, even Shinigami. If Aaroniero kept that ability then there's no denying the possibility that he could merge his own essence into a new host body, and leave one he deems as useless or too weak,_" Gin concluded with a hand stroking his chin, watching Rukia now bend over and consume Chad's own body. With morbid fascination, he smiled as he watched the final parts of his body slither into her hand that reverted back into its original shape. Chuckling, he watched her leave and move across the sandy wastes with haste, obvious to him that she sought new victims to chow down on. "it seems Aaroniero's pulled the wool over all of our eyes. I doubt even Lord Aizen knows about this deception, what with his fixation on Ichigo-"

"Gin," Kaname's voice interrupted his train of thought, causing the said albino to turn over and stare at him with a irritated visage. "Lord Aizen is asking about the status of Las Noches."

Sighing, Gin waved off towards the blind colleague of his, glad that he was unable to see the screens as he was able to keep on the channel of interest instead of hastily changing it. "Nothing new to report. No Gargantas opening up within the enclosure and no reinforcements to speak of yet."

"I see," Kaname said with understanding. Quick to follow up with this information, Kaname turned his heels on Gin and spoke to him over his shoulder, "in that case, Lord Aizen said you shouldn't waste time. He's been noticing the drop of several Reiatsus, and what he can only conclude will be the eventual disappearance of a few more. He needs you to go retrieve the Vanguard so we don't exhaust the lion share of our forces."

"Oh? You want me to get them?" Gin asked with perplexion.

"Is there a problem?" Kaname asked, halfway turning towards Gin.

"Well...why don't _you_ go get them?" Gin asked with a sheepish smile, pointing his hand towards his associate.

"Lord Aizen needs me elsewhere. This is your assignment from him," Kaname answered bluntly.

"But I don't like it down there. It's not a pleasant place and I don't think they like me," Gin scrunched up his nose, showing his detestment to the idea.

"Are you refusing an order?" Kaname inquired pointedly.

Sighing heavily, Gin massaged the bridge of his nose, using his free hand to wave off his comrade, "No, I can handle it. Just lettin' ya know I don't like it."

"Good," Kaname said with satisfaction, turning crisply to exit the room and back down the hall whence he came, "Lord Aizen will be pleased."

Groaning, Gin stood up and glanced at the monitor he had been watching. A secret smile stretched over his face, cloaking the look of knowing in his crimson glinting eyes. He'd hum to himself as his thoughts gave him newfound amusement, "_Things are going to be quite busy around here. I can't wait to see how this plays out!_"

* * *

**A/N:** Whew! Done and wow this took longer than I thought. Not to write, mind you, but my mind hit so many roadblocks along the way. I just wish it didn't take until NOW to complete it. But I DIGRESS it is finished and I am glad.

First, I want to thank Lastation for previewing and helping me spot check some errors. I wouldn't have gotten it to such a good quality without him. So a round of applause to him for helping make this chapter even better than intended :)

I hope what you saw, my additions to Rudbornn's abilities and my changing of the outcome to Nnoitra's initial fight with Nelliel, is to your liking. I thought that Nelliel was the most mistreated of the potential badasses that Kubo created. Much like how there was so much potential for Aaroniero, Nelliel's potential lied in her becoming a permanent member of the team and kept her from being limelighted as a all-powerful badass Arrancar.

Hope you all liked it and I hope you can contain your excitement for the next chapter of **A Predator Among Us!**


	4. The Liar, The Lancer, And The Leader

**A Predator Among Us**

* * *

"Seriously wish Kaname came down here instead of me," Gin muttered, treading down a set of dark stairs, leading into underworks within the White Palace. Dark torches cast a dim, golden-red glow along the walls in diagonally aloft positions. Unlike the majority of the palaces constructed the walls and ceilings of the structure's underbelly looked more like limestone and granite than concrete imbued with marble and tiles. The normally quiet footsteps the Lieutenant of Aizen made echoed and were made much more apparent, mingling with the variety of ominous chilling groans and growls lingering within.

The lavender haired Shinigami crossed a dark threshold, noting the audible sloppy smacks of someone eating. He peered briefly through the slim opening of the doorway, noting a large pile of Hollow and Arrancar carcasses. A gargantuan silhouette of Yammy Llargo was seen, gnawing upon a familiar Arrancar servant, causing the man to back away slowly.

"Geeze, Yammy's snacking away on our men while everyone else is fightin'. Not exactly what I'd call fair," Gin commented with a sigh, traversing further into the Palace's basement.

It wasn't until he came to the end of the hall that he looked up. There standing in front of him was a door of immense proportions, easily equalling a palace room's gateway. Staring down at him, protruding from the door itself appeared to be the face of a traditional Oni, with fangs bared and eyes gleaming with malice. Beads of sweat nervously crawled down his scalp as he approached the intimidating piece of architecture.

"_Why did Captain Aizen make such a scary door for the Vanguard's quarters?_" Gin thought with a glum expression.

"**_Commander Ichimaru,_**" A voice rumbled out, catching Gin's attention.

Looking forward Gin saw a particularly large bodied Arrancar standing guard over the door's entrance. A skull laden pole handle leading up to a executioner's double-headed axe leaned over his left shoulder, its razor edges tapping the door's face. His face below a pair of steely grey eyes was entirely covered by sullen white mask, jutting out a good foot from the skull with bared teeth. Most of his body was visible, with a hole expanding over his left midriff while the number 71 was invertedly tattooed over his sternum. What passed as armor was a pair of leathern shoulder pads, a white bottom tunic, and studded leggings matching equally rough appearing gloves wrapped up to the elbow.

"_Sin Nombre Parias, the Seventy First Arrancar,_" Gin remembered, cuing his trademark smile to slide up his pale complexioned face, "_what a cruel name given to such a lonely fellow. Sticking him down here with such a dreary job I almost forgot he existed. I don't envy him in the slightest though..._"

"**_What brings you down here?_**" Sin inquired dutifully, standing up to his full height of eight feet, looking down at his superior with harsh eyes gleaming from his bald headed visage. "**_is Lord Aizen wishing an update on the prisoners?_**"

"Yes," Gin said with a nonchalant tone, standing up unafraid of the larger Arrancar, staring at him with a thin-eyed gaze, "he wishes to mobilize the Vanguard. I am here to round them up."

"**_Hmph,_**" Sin huffed with disgust, stepping aside so his superior officer to approach the door, "**_if you ask me-_**"

"But I didn't," Gin retorted cheekily.

"**_They're unfit to be used for any military operation,_**" Sin continued with insistence, slamming the pommel of his axe to the ground to create a loud echo in the dark hall.

Forming a number of indistinct hand signs, Gin chuckled in response to Sin's apprehension, "This is hardly a complex task for 'em to do. They just need to mop up some intruders who managed to enter Las Noches. Lord Aizen doesn't wish to have his best men exert themselves on such a gruesome and mundane task."

"**_Intruders? So that's what those Reiatsus I felt!_**" Sin exclaimed with shock. Hands clenched into fists, wrapping around his axe fervently, brandishing it in front of his superior as he took a step forward, "**_let me deal with them! You can never trust these traitors to do the job properly!_**"

"Oh, I don't think it'll be a problem if you came along," Gin said with an agreeing nod, finishing the last hand sign. A crimson triangle of light formed over his clasped hands, expanding into a pyramid shaped key. With a splaying motion of his hands, the prism of energy imbued itself into the open mouth of the Oni, causing the onyx hued door to glow a dark burgundy and its eyes to burn a red fire. Soon after the mouth closed as well as the eyes, the door itself rising up towards the ceiling, leaving the path to the rows of evenly spaced cells on display.

"**_Be wary, Commander,_**" Sin spoke in a low tone, knowing the inmates may be listening as they treaded forward, "**_even though they've been separated from their Zanpakutō, they've been doing nothing but presiding within their cells and feasting on the provided provisions. There's no telling how agitated or feral they are after so many years-_**"

"I think I can manage," Gin interrupted in a dismissive fashion.

Passing by a number of cells that all held an identical if not spartan crafting, the two's footsteps were all that was heard within the Vanguard's hold. Each had an arch frame over seamless barriers, much like the main gate that remained closed behind them. Triple digits enamored over the hingeless doors, describing all you needed to know of each inmate being held against their will.

Approaching the farthest one, embedded into the end of the hall and making up a largest of the cell barriers. Emblazoned were the numbers 101 in stark white, with a faded sheen from prolonged existence in the dank corridor. When the two stopped, Sin gripped his axe tightly and looked cautiously at his superior. Fearlessly the lavender haired Shinigami walked up to the door and placed his palm against its smooth surface. A bright emerald light in the shape of a skull lit up and stretched over where his hand laid against. Turning it to the right, a succinct sound of old locks began to retract, causing the door to sink into the ground below.

"Hello?" Gin spoke invitingly, eyes peering into a dark space with little to no form of light. A drab cloaked silhouette could be seen crouching from within, unmoving and not registering the movement outside. Whether it could tell that something or someone spoke to it or not was too difficult to tell.

"**_You're wasting your time, Commander Ichimaru,_**" Sin said in a low growl, his eyes glaring at the being held from within, "**_that one hasn't moved let alone spoke in all the time I spent watching over these treacherous ingrates. It's best to forget about it entirely._**"

"Yo! I got something to ask of you!" Gin cupped his hands over his mouth, raising his voice loud enough to ring within the dark enclosed cell.

"**_Commander, you-!_**"

Anything that either of them could muster up another verbal reply, a blur of crimson overlapping drab grey flourished past the open cell and beside their flanks. A swift jettisoning punch thrust out by Sin's part, tearing part of the cloak of the escaping prisoner off but failing to meet its mark. Raising his axe over his head, Sin aimed to cut his charge down, but hesitated when he saw the position it was in.

"Try it," A seething voice snarled, as red eyes glared from the corner of its visage, "and the Commander dies!"

Gin felt what seemed like a sharp piece of carved flooring placed uncomfortably against his neck. Worst yet, he felt his right hand gripped by a strong and calloused hand by his captor, keeping him from reaching his own weapon with ease. Yet despite the predicament he was placed within, his smile seemed to stretch farther instead of diminishing at the thought of being attacked in such a fashion.

"**_Do so and you'll need a morgue instead of a cell, traitor!_**" Sin rumbled out, pulling his axe back in a daring stance, appearing ready to cut through his own superior to get to his prisoner.

"Now Now, no need to be hasty," Gin said in a nonchalant tone, smile very much intact, "our charge here doesn't want to cause any trouble. Our little prisoner is just a bit jarred about a summons being made in person after so many years without as much as a peep from us. That is why you aren't such a lively person, _Rana Zolinder?_"

Indeed, with top partition of the cloak ripped apart by the Warden's behemoth fist, a long gout of crimson locks flourished down a partially exposed back. While parts of her were less than dignified, the shadows of the hall and her proximity to Gin kept her visually decent. The curvaceous Arrancar easily stood a few inches taller than her superior, with a jaw-framed mask fragment that rested sharp teeth around her jawline just below her lower lip and lower ear. The only real notable thing telling of her Hollow origin was a single hole the size of a golf ball residing at the center of her throat, going all the way from front to back. Fiery eyes glared at Gin's right side while keeping a good peripheral mark at Sin, ensuring she wouldn't be taken off guard by either of them.

"What the Hell are you doing down here? It's been fifty years since I've been thrown down here along with what few comrades that have shared my fate of isolation!" Rana hissed angrily, not letting up the pressure of her shiv against the Shinigami's throat. "does my Lord wish to make more of a fool of me?! He had promised us Espada, the real Espada, a place by his side as he led us to greatness! I know how you viewed us as obsolete in comparison to their ilk! I'll be damned before I follow any Shinigami, least of all the likes of you!"

"See here, Miss Zolinder," Gin said in a cool, even tone, not bothering to jerk or struggle. "what you believe and what had happened is entirely in the past..."

"Exactly, pray tell, can that be?! How does imprisoning me and branding me with a damning rank of Privaron suddenly disappear?! I'm curious to see what clever trick you have in store for me and anyone else you came down to beguile into your sick game, _Commander_ Ichimaru!" Rana sneered, forcing the shiv tighter against Gin's neck, earning a trickle of blood to escape the lacerated surface.

"Two Espada have met their untimely end by intruders. _Shinigami_ intruders," Gin emphasized slowly, his grin toothily spread so that Rana could see his visage. Hearing her grip slacken significantly and her breath hitch, the Lieutenant of Aizen continued. "mere hours ago a group of Shinigami have spearheaded into Las Noches with the intent of rescuing a certain someone named Orihime Inoue, someone vital to Lord Aizen's plans. During their efforts they've killed a number of Arrancars and mortally wounded those who couldn't stand up to their martial might. Three of the Privaron Espada are among those casualties along with two current Espada. Another two are predicted to die in less than half an hour. Have I piqued your interest yet?"

For the longest time Rana's breathing dimmed from outright rage to curiosity blended with disbelieving shock. Sure they had their share of adversaries, but nothing ever testing their mettle against the Gotei 13. To hear that the brothers of hers that chose to serve Aizen as meager guards and dirty deeded assassins fell to them caused her anger be redirected to her primary hated species. Shinigami, a race she and her comrades had faced in the past long before Aizen introduced himself as the newfound de facto power of Hueco Mundo.

"Tell me," Rana said with a cooler edge, her eyes narrowing at Gin's slightly turned jaw, "if I...no, if we Privaron deal with these intruders, will we be welcomed back as Espada? Will Lord Aizen pardon our past transgressions?"

"That depends on your ability to complete your mission, doesn't it?" Gin inquired cheekily, turning his head over his shoulder to open a single blue eye to gleam back at Rana's own fiery iris.

Releasing her hold on Gin, Privaron Espada backed up a step and examined her commander with a more stoic visage. Her drab cloak hung loosely over her form, held slightly closer with a single free hand over her exposed bosom. Dropping the shiv onto the ground, she briefly glanced at the croc-faced Arrancar before returning it back at the serpentine grinning Shinigami general.

While Sin did little to relax his own stance, Gin turned upon his heel and waved his arms out, "Glad to see you've accepted! I'm glad we can move past our differenc-"

"Don't mistake my acceptance of this task by Lord Aizen that I have forgiven your betrayal of my loyalty," Rana said harshly, her eyes furrowed once more, though this time accompanied with a malicious smile, "get in my way, and I'll cut you to ribbons. Commander or not, you're one of the Shinigami I despise the most. Don't forget that, Ichimaru!"

"Ah, fair enough," Gin sighed, shrugging with resignation.

"Before I clean up the mess your _superior_ Espada have made, I'm going to need you to release my own brethren whom you imprisoned here accordingly," Rana ordered, her voice assuming a more authoritative and crisp volume. "all of our Zanpakutō will naturally need to be returned to us to make us fully efficient. Once they're all debriefed, rearmed, and assess the enemy's strength we can move out and take them down swiftly."

"Sounds like a plan," Gin nodded with an approving grin.

"**_Commander!_**" Sin shouted, causing Rana to side glance him annoyingly while Gin simply turned his head. Swinging his axe towards the previously incarcerated Arrancar, he flourished around for angered emphasis as he shouted, "**_you cannot allow this barbarian to roam free! If you allow her and her cohorts to be given free liberties they may try to perform_** **another _Coup!_**"

"Don't worry your shiny head, Sin," Gin said with a light-hearted tone, pointing at him with his left most wiry finger, "you said you wanted to tag along, right? I'm sure you don't want to let your charges out of your sight. If only to keep an eye on them, you may assist them in their mission and act as you see fit. After all, that is the task that Lord Aizen designated you with, hasn't it?"

For a few moments, Sin looked perplexed by Gin's insinuation. Seeing a satisfied smile stretch across Rana's face, he realized he had been played from the start. His eagerness to leave and prove himself had led him to be drawn in with the most disorganized squad of soldiers. The fact he knew they'd like nothing more than to kill him when his back is turned unsettled him that he was being dragged into it by being in their midst.

Tightening his hold on his axe, he rested it upon the ground and dutifully bowed his head to Gin, "**_As you wish, Commander. I shall do my best to keep these fools in line and ensure they do the task that has been ordained by Lord Aizen._**"

"How cute to see the Warden playing lapdog to milord's every whim," Rana jabbed with a toothy grin, causing a visible flinch and an angry flash behind the croc Arrancar's eyes.

"Please try to get along with him. He's been quite bored being cooped up watching over you, and I'd like for him to at least stretch his legs this once. Keep the mission in mind and you won't even know he's there," Gin insisted with a wave of his hands.

Glancing over at the substantially taller and muscle bound Warden, Rana's doubt was clearly seen by the dry look her eyes projected. Promptly rolling her eyes, she turned her head to face Gin directly, glaring outright with a hiss in her voice, "There is one last thing I need before I do anything."

"Hm?"

"I need a change of clothes. These rags are hardly suited for battle other than to be ogled at by distasteful creatures like you," Rana said bluntly, her face contorting into one of disgust at seeing Gin's decadent grin stretch further.

"Why," Gin began to say, "I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about..."

"Fuck off, Commander!" Rana snarled viciously, turning her exposed midriff away from him, still projecting her heated glare back at him over her shoulder, "get me my sword and my damned clothes!"

"I think you and I are going to get along just fine, my dear," Gin chuckled at the infuriated Privaron Arrancar.

* * *

_**Chapter **__**4 - **__**The Liar, The Lancer, And The Leader**_

* * *

"_So this is what it felt like to see my Glotoneria. Damn, I was scary,_" Aaroniero thought as the parallels between her fight with Rukia and her with Rudbornn's were hard to miss. Both could stare down at a prey as if they are beneath them, using abilities that didn't require all-out physical confrontation. The very visage of skull-mounted bodies being sprouted forth like plants from a gnarled white tree from branches resembling jagged lightning bolts sent chills running up and down her spine.

Shaking her head, her prolonged gaze upon her enemy distracted her for only a few moments from the real problem. With a row of Calaveras marching towards her with an unfazed resolve only a cross of machines and mindless killers would possess, they already formed into a formidably sized unit. With more on the way, grown from the twisted tree behind them, they could easily number a hundred in over a minute.

From simple observation, she realized just how easily out of control this battle could become.

"**_What's the matter, Shinigami?!_**" Rudbornn crowed out in his warped tone, waving his arms from his high altitude perch, "**_are you in awe of the power of creation Lord Aizen has bestowed upon me?! Tremble and know your own powerlessness, Rukia Kuchiki!_**"

"You sure like to talk," Aaroniero commented with a sneer, spreading her legs apart to lower her form into a squat. With her sword held in a inverted manner next to her right cheek, a bristle of cerulean white light emanated from her person. With a slight bend of the knees, she jettisoned herself towards her enemy with sword held in front of her visage, "it's getting annoying!"

As before when she upped her Reiatsu output, the Calaveras couldn't strike her rapidly speeding form. Each time she flourished near their blades' reach, she whisked out of the way with a shimmering burst of Shunpo. To and fro her beige cloaked frame swiftly accelerated past the dozens of soldier crops towards the base of the tree-like body of their originator. Leaping upwards with a powerful burst of air, sending a wave of dispersed sand behind her, she sailed upwards till she reached Rudbornn's person.

With a smirk donned upon Aaroniero, she reared her sword back to subsequently launch a cutting arc towards Rudbornn's head. That smirk would vanish as the released Arrancar raised his bolt-shaped sceptre to deflect the icy sword, dissipating a wave of frozen air upon contact.

"**_Attacking the General before disposing of his troops,_**" Rudbornn murmured out, pushing back Aaroniero's blade with an effortless backstroke, "**_is unwise!_**"

Upon hearing this, Aaroniero felt the rush of wind among the flurries of static, the telltale sign of Sonido deploying from a number of Calaveras. Dipping down to avoid a number of sword thrusts, she quickly reversed her grip on her Sode no Shirayuki. Turning upon her heels she spun her pale blade in repulsing thrusts, forcing her guard to knock the incoming barrage of swords to be sent off kilter and away from her person. Then with a graceful twirl she cut through the limbs of their arms and slashed their midriffs open in two wide cutting fissures of chilling Reishi.

The sudden sound of Ceros priming behind her caused her eyes to widen upon looking her shoulder. There, half-formed Calaveras hung from the branches, pointing their swords forward to form ten Ceros from their respective branches. The collective of spheres all coiled in crackling tendrils that joined together at the end of Rudbornn's bolt sceptre.

"**_Dios Cero!_**" Rudbornn declared, unleashing a voluminous scaled Cero at Aaroniero. Shaped like a lightning bolt of violet hue, the energy crossed the gap at a speed that alarmed the Shinigami bodied Hollow. Her person appeared to be overtaken in an instant through the violet lit motion, thunderously launching into the horizon into a row of pillars the size of skyscrapers. Following connecting, the Dios Cero's blast levelled the structures effortlessly, creating a horizon glint of violet to overlap their proximate scenery. The shockwave caused an upheaval of sand and air, buffeting all the way back to the source of the Reishi discharge.

It was during the split second that Aaroniero had deployed her Shunpo Clone behind her -a skill she adapted from devouring Zommari-, that she landed amidst the twenty standing Arrancar soldiers. Sweat beaded on her scalp, eyes wide and filled with the understanding how close of a call her escape was. She warily examined the enemies surrounding her, soon joined by another ten that had helped fire the Cero.

"_That Cero's faster than any I've seen. I thought Bala was the only kind of Cero that moved that fast,_" Aaroniero thought with perplexion.

"**_You did well to dodge that Cero, Shinigami_**," Rudbornn commented in a laudable tone, observing as his soldiers surrounded her while another ten was constructed upon his branches, "**_however, I doubt you can keep up at that speed for an indefinite period._**"

"_If you only knew how much power I possessed,_" Aaroniero thought with a hidden scowl, turning around to hold her blade in a ready two handed stance. Judging by the cautious mannerisms of their circling steps, just outside of her sword's reach, they appeared to be prepared for her Zanpakutō's Tsukishiro technique. The sound of ten more feet dropping down to the ground caused her to grind her teeth with iration, "_I have to deal with them quickly before too many are on the field. But how do I stop them from being birthed continuously? I doubt I can just cut his Ressureccion down at the trunk, he'd attack me on sight. Without the aid of additional allies, I can't possibly match their numbers and tactics._"

It was then at the moment an idea dawned occurred, causing her eyes to widen and light up. The epiphany caused her to gape at such an obvious maneuver to be utilized in such a scenario. It was perfect!

However, the Calaveras appeared to had done their waiting long enough. A set of six rushed at high speed sprints, holding their swords aloft while they intended to perform a run-by slash at their enemy. Aaroniero ducked and parried gracefully, leaping around to perform a double spin kick to send a number of them tumbling across the sandy battlefield. Others grasped each other's forearms and performed a spinning top motion, creating many bodily whirlwinds, aiming to cut her down as they rushed at her in such an unorthodox manner.

As dust kicked during their dozen man employment of Blade Storms, Aaroniero's body flickered in a moment of disjointed appearance. Following that her body seemed to disperse into six places, appearing before each spinning pair of Calaveras simultaneously. In synchronization, glowing blades filled with Sōkatsui energy cut through the spinning blades and their targeted two rotating bodies with ease. Limbs and lacerated torsos steaming from contact of searing edges sent them into jumbled heaps.

Without skipping a beat, the remaining dozens of Calaveras began rapid firing Bala at the Shunpo Clones. Pocketed concussive explosions rocked the sand in front of them, sending a number of sight obscuring pillars of ascending grains. Their prey deftly avoided by rushing forward in a tandem of Shunpos, using the misfires as cover to get closer to the wall of Calaveras defending their master.

Just as they reached the line of Calaveras, a damning flash of violet light overcame their midst, launched by a electrical Cero from Rudbornn's own sceptre. The blast sent his troops flailing back but eliminated the mass of charging Clones simultaneously.

Rudbornn looked upon the cloud of sand flowing up amidst his line of sight. Tilting his head left to right, he could see no movement but could feel a suppression of Reiatsu in the air. She was close by and he could feel that she was hiding in the sand cloud, avoiding his troops below and starting another wave of attacks. Feeling another set of ten Calaveras drop from his branches, he could hear faint bell-like sounds from within the clouded airspace not but a dozen meters away.

"**Hakuren!**" Declared beyond his vision's reach, parting the cloud of sand to reveal a rumbling stormhead of frigid snow.

"_**Predictable,**_" Rudbornn murmured, raising his sceptre in front of his airspace, generating a conical wave of violet Reiatsu from his being. Doing so caused the pyre of rushing snow to rush past his body, leaving him untouched, only flowing past just a few hairs outside his yellow root covered torso. Lowering his sceptre, he examined the fully revealed Aaroniero, crouched in the middle of space at the same altitude as he. "**_I commend your intelligence and tact, Shinigami, but I'm afraid you're reaching the end of your rope._**"

_"_As if!" Aaroniero jeered out with a smile, standing erect while holding her sword aloft by her side, "if anyone should be finished right now, it's you!"

"**_Do tell,_**" Rudbornn chuckled lowly, seeing his remaining Calaveras gather around her outside her sword's reach once more. So many of them were spaced out that a few were only a handful of meters away from his personal space. Waving his arms for emphasis at his small army, Rudbornn shouted out incredulously, "**_look around you, __Shinigami!__ You're surrounded by soldiers I can continue to spawn indefinitely! There is no escape for you!_**"

At this declaration the Calaveras squatted down and raised their swords menacingly. Each of them exuded a violet aura of Reiatsu, creating a dark atmosphere around surrounded Shinigami. It wasn't until the sword held aloft was practically dropped from her right hand did their attention avert down towards the falling weapon. A line of icy rope coiling around the ribbon flourished up from her open hand, grasped readily the moment it dropped to the sand below.

"**Some no Mai,**" Aaroniero enunciated solemnly, whipping out her ground prone blade in a circular fashion. Rising in a circular manner caused chilling winds to flail wildly, catching all of the proximate skull headed soldiers within its frigid grip. When a heavenly silver light began to be emitted within the atmosphere around them upon the seventh revolution passing by Aaroniero's right shoulder did the technique finally take place, "**Tsukishiro!**"

In that instant, a colossal sized icy pillar was created, catching all of the Calaveras within the blade's passing reach. All were imprisoned in its frigid embrace, quickly freezing their bodies and causing their physiology to become brittle and fragile. With dozens of webbed cracks spreading across the tall tower of frozen moisture, all of the bodies and the mass of frigid air dismantled before Rudbornn's eyes.

"_She extended the reach of her Tsukishiro by using an ice rope?!_" Rudbornn thought with shocked realization.

"I told you before," Aaroniero said amidst the epicenter of the collapsing ice tower, bathed in chilling vapor that wafted around their vicinity, "you're the one who's finished."

Huffing, Rudbornn waved a free hand with dismission, "**_Hardly. You destroyed my subordinates but there's always more. This display of power changes-!_**"

The succinct sound of brittle ice shattering near his arm caught his attention. Craning his skull affixed head to the left, he recoiled at what he saw. The branches, all over him were completely encased in ice. Partially formed skulls were already becoming brittle within their icy prisons, the feeble manufacturers of their bodies cut off by the frigid temperatures.

"**Shakkahō!**"

Aaroniero's shout returned Rudbornn's flinching turn back to face his opponent, just in time to see a crimson orb flung towards the base of tree-like body. With horror etched behind his stoic mask, he saw as the roots were shattered apart in a vibrant explosion, causing his body fall backwards along with the cracking branches aloft with his backside. Seeing the smug grin elapse over his enemy's face, however, did little to quell the fire of rage building within his being.

"**_SHINIGAMI!_**" Rudbornn howled with animalistic rage, swinging his sceptre in her direction, already lit with a blinding purple flash of Reishi. An instant later and a thunderous flash of a smaller Dios Cero was let loose, flowing forth in an erratic swift pace. Enough so that it caused Aaroniero's victorious visage to vanish and replaced with one of alarm.

Shimmering down below to the ground, Aaroniero would have time to see the air return back to a normal color scheme just prior to hearing loud thumps in the distance. Looking up from her crouched posture, her face contorted to one of disgust and disbelief.

"**_Don't you dare think I am incapable of fighting,_**" Rudbornn growled aloud, as four crooked roots jutted out from his partially ashen lower body, forming a quartet of jagged inhuman limbs. A wave of deep violet Reiatsu enveloped his person, causing the sand below to distend and spread out in a crushing manner. Widespread tendrils of purple-white Reishi snaked all about his person, showing the peak of his power being brought to the surface, "**_just because you destroyed my army!_**"

"Shit!" Aaroniero swore under her breath, rising up to hold her blade in a Kendo stance, "I didn't think he could move, let alone fight after dismembering his extraneous parts. Leave it to me to make stupid assumptions..."

Swinging a free hand in her direction, Rudbornn discharged a dozen marble sized orbs of purple colored Reishi. After jettisoning a handful of meters the spheres sped up at a rapid pace, blurring forth to leave purple hued light in their wakes. Seconds after passing over the sandy soil, concussive fissures of shredding force was seen, burrowing deep into the grained earth for twenty meters in depth.

"**Hadō #73,**" Aaroniero uttered upon backpedaling a good distance through Shunpo, clenching her sword hand over a unfurled free one with both wrists locked together. With a cerulean trail of fierce light created between her hands respectively, she shouted dramatically in its release, "**Sōren Sōkatsui!**"

As the five high velocity projectiles met a large wave of fiery Reishi, the collision would trigger an immediate detonation. Spouting upwards was a large pyre of orange-red flames, elliptically thrusting shockwaves to disembowel the grained landscape underneath along with searing waves of air pressure. Billowing out fiercely, it took a handful of seconds to expose the large crater caused by the two forces that were arrested and destroyed by mere contact.

Kicking off the earth, Aaroniero wasted no time taking the initiative of counter attack. Her body shimmered, replicating a number of duplicates as she charged the magnified distance between herself and her enemy. The series of Shunpos they all utilized made it increasingly difficult to gauge the authentic one as well as hit with a accurate attack from a distance.

This sight did little to dissuade the Arrancar.

"**_Defeating me is impossible,_**" Rudbornn rumbled out, raising his sceptre, igniting it with another gout of violet Reishi, "**_no matter what tactics, no matter how many numbers, no matter your strength it is futile. I am the Exequias, one who doesn't let a single prey escape. Your demise was guaranteed the moment we became opponents!_**"

"Your own arrogance is distorting that cool, rational head of yours, Arrancar!" Aaroniero shouted from afar, drawing ever-so closer to her nemesis, "perhaps this is why Aizen thought better than to name you an Espada!"

The verbal jab didn't go unheard. With a roar, Rudbornn swung his sceptre in a wide arc, discharging a continuous blaze of Dios Cero to trail across the sandy wastes. Having passed completely in front of the six Aaronieros, a violent eruption of combustible Reishi discharged in an overarching motion from where the Dios Cero had crossed. Such a infernal wall of crimson tongues was seen that Rudbornn could see little of the battlefield they had orchestrated in the past few minutes.

"**_You know nothing, invader!_**" Rudbornn cried out, swinging his sceptre wielding hand out in the direction of the flaming horizon, "**_don't speak as if you know Aizen's thoughts and will. He gave me this power and title. Placing doubt in my heart where there should be none is blasphemy. How dare you make me doubt my superior's wishes!_**"

A soft whooshing tap to Rudbornn's forward right momentarily caught his attention, followed by a glistening flash of golden light. Raising his weapon hand to bat it away, the light quickly ensnared his arm all the way up to his shoulder. Much to his horror it was the binding rope Kidō, _Hainawa_, having used from before.

"You pitiful fool," Aaroniero said lowly, sword held down at her side while her hand still held the Bakudo in her left, "I never told you to doubt Aizen. I just confirmed the doubts already buried in your discontented heart."

"**_You-!_**"

"**Shakkahō,**" Aaroniero whispered aloud, contrary to shouting her spells from before.

A crimson flash of light flowed up the chain that bound Rudbornn's arm, causing the entire limb to instantaneously combust in a violent explosion. With parts of his mask shattered from the force of such a blast, his entire being was knocked off balance, falling to the ground in a disjointed fragmented mess.

Heavily sighing, the Shinigami bodied Hollow rose to her full height and trotted slowly to the mutilated Arrancar's side. Already she could hear the choked wheezes from his cracked mask. The sight of a scorched cheek, previously hidden, shined a single onyx eye with grim knowing. A tear welled up within his eye, spilling over his charred flesh as he continued to gurgle for air.

"**_I have failed...,_**" Rudbornn flinched, his free arm shaking and his gloved hand gripping the sand with unbearable pain, "**_f-forgive me...Lord Aizen..._**"

"I almost feel sorry for you, pawn of Shinigami," Aaroniero said with a morose expression crossing her eyes, "but I can tell you now that your passing will serve a far greater calling than he ever promised. A goal that I aspire to change everything that is the laws of nature."

"**_W-What are you...saying?_**" Rudbornn queried, his eye turning to look at his better.

In the end, he wished he hadn't turned to look.

What had been a dainty, pretty hand was now a protuberance of a mouth shaped tentacle of dark pigmentation. It stuck out from the wrist and expanded, permeating a noxious scent that filled the air near him with a Reiatsu. A Reiatsu that wasn't Shinigami in the slightest, but-

"**_M-M-Master...Arruruerie?!_**" Rudbornn quivered with stark realization.

A quick flash of mucous covered flesh over a root-covered torso and it was done. Sickening crunches of compacted bone and cartilage, along with a good amount of blood and tissue was all absorbed into the ravenous limb. As the essence of Rudbornn had been fully devoured and assimilated into Aaroniero's being, her hand reverted to normalcy, and she stood up to examine herself of what she acquired.

"Your powers will assist my evolution greatly, Rudbornn," Aaroniero said with a proud smile, flashing her pearly white teeth with fascination.

As she pondered how best to test this new power, she realized she'd have to temporarily neutralize her body's Zanpakutō. Swinging her Sode no Shirayuki to the side, she sealed it to its original form, promptly sheathing it. Furrowing her brows with concentration, she clapped her hands together, and stood perfectly still. A vibrant violet light lapsed over her body, flourishing her cloak and Shikhakushō for long seconds as she summoned the newly acquired power.

Then, she spoke aloud in a solemn tone, as her pupils became slitted, "**Grow, Árbol!**"

Swiftly, four jagged branches grew forth from her cloaked right shoulder in an outward manner. Roots seemed to billow out and connect to the earth underneath her kama skirt, around her legs and into the sandy grains. She could feel the ripe Reishi currents that made up the land of Hueco Mundo pump into her organic floral parts and into the branches that hung by her body. It wouldn't be but a minute before the human shaped skulls began to form characteristics in exact likeness of her Shinigami body.

Detaching from the branches, four Calavera replicas of Rukia Kuchiki were made. She could sense and feel her own consciousness within each of the bodies. It was an omnipotent sensation, one she now emphasized with Rudbornn completely. It was as if she was in multiple places at once and could act accordingly without the strain of a single mind needing to multi-task.

"I guess there are no need to say anything since you are basically me," Aaroniero said with a low chuckle, mirrored by the others who felt the same. Resuming a more stoic expression, her pupil returned to normalcy as she retracted the branches and roots back into her body respectively. "though I'll need to be careful where I send you. These bodies I have retain exact same Reiryoku as I possessed fighting Rudbornn. Avoiding confrontation is key and scavenging the dead or dying Espada is critical."

Squatting onto the sand beneath her, she thrust both arms forward, placing the backs against each other. After a brief moment of concentration a vibrant light resembling a rainbow mingled with diamonds appeared before both hands. In a sweeping manner, a curtain of light flourished over her body. Seconds later the field of refracting colors disappeared along with her body.

"_Bakudo #26, Kyokkō,_" Aaroniero iterated within her mind, now perfectly hidden from a visual and sensory degree, "_now that I'm hidden, I can have my Calaveras act on my accord. If any of them do happen to perish, I can always make more. I'll just have to hope none of them do when they have a meal I wish to take back to this body of mine._"

Without any delay, the four bodies departed in a deployment of Shunpo. Aaroniero herself closed her eyes, focusing on her newfound awareness and control over her Calavera forms. With no need to protect her original body while it remains unseen, she can freely exercise her intelligence over the rest.

"_The Hunt is on. Let's see who's next in line on this buffet list,_" Aaroniero thought with a carnal grin of hunger.

* * *

"Oh dear," Szayel commented offhandedly, placing a hand over his left ear in a cupped fashion, "I've lost trace of 'em. I wonder what's going to happen next..."

"W-What are you babbling about?!" Pesche uttered out loud, still heaving with exhaustion next to Dondochakka.

"Nothing to concern you two," Szayel said with a humored tone, waving his arms nonchalantly, "frankly I'm more concerned how my comrades elsewhere are doing. Your Cero, what was it called? That was certainly a heart stopper but it did little to me seeing as you gave me ample time to dismantle it. Such a shame really. Your superior's strength far exceeds that of yours combined that it's quite hilarious."

"Ha! You admitted that she's better than you!" Pesche pointed at the released Espada's disturbing form.

"I never claimed to be stronger than her. In terms of brute force, she's in a class all her own. But in terms of intelligence? Well, you saw how long it took for her to recover from my last experiment," Szayel said with a decadent grin, tapping his chin with purposeful thought, "I wonder...what kind of experiments I shall put her through this time that can overshadow that cracked skull of hers?"

"You...you...you b-b-bastard!" Dondochakka roared out, his polkadotted frame lunging wildly forward at his enemy.

"Wait for me, buddy!" Pesche shouted with haste after him.

"You idiots! Get back he-kaff-kaff!" Renji hacked after protesting their assault.

As expected, the two fell right into Szayel's trap. Two pairs of plant-like tendrils wrapped around one after the other, lifting them off the ground to squirm uselessly in the air. Squelches were emitted as the crimson flaps of flesh viscously pumped and squeezed the organic data from the two Arrancars. Once finished, they were unceremoniously dropped with wet thuds to the ground.

Coughing, the two looked up with despair at seeing a pair of identical Voodoo dolls made in their image in their enemy's hands.

"While I wait to see such results," Szayel said with a cruel smile stretched across his face, "I think I'll enjoy torturing you two for a bit!"

* * *

The battle seemed to drag on as it had before.

Ever since their released states had been put on display, Nnoitra had flailed and cut through the sandy environment wildly. His six arms slashed and stroked the air with terrifying force, a true testament to how far he had come in all these years. It was all any bystander could do to keep themselves from being caught in the flurry of blistering sand filled wind and the shockwaves that followed.

Yet for the life of him, Nnoitra found himself unable to land a single hit on her.

"Stop moving around, ya little shit!" Nnoitra crassly exclaimed, landing down to where Nelliel had been moments ago, burrowing his lowermost pair of scythes into the ground. Even after all this time he had to catch a few breaths of air. All the running he did seemed to be a waste of time and it was frustrating him to no end.

The sudden roar of motion from behind followed by a pair of hooves crashing into his backside, caused his eye to widen with incredulous pain.

"GAH!" Nnoitra cried out as he felt himself tumble head over foot, barreling into a fallen structure, shattering it in the process. Flipping himself back onto his feet, he gripped his pole handles tightly with frustration. Fixing his eye to fiercely glare at the stoic standing centauress, he shouted aloud in a goading manner, "stand still and fight me!"

"You should know by now, Nnoitra," Nelliel proclaimed, holding her lance aloft to her right forward flank, "that an Arrancar's Ressureccion acts a lot like a Shinigami's Bankai. Depending on the nature of our lives as Hollows depicts what class of release states we'll have as Arrancars. Yours is a rudimentarily simple Melee type, with most emphasis placed upon power. Mine is based on something else."

"Like I'd care," Nnoitra growled out, sprinting swiftly towards her, brandishing all of his weapons to the side with eagerness, "power is the only thing you need! Power is what Aizen wants! Seeing my power, he moved me from 8 to 5! You do the math and see what that means-"

As the one-eyed Shinigamified Hollow reached her space, he found that her form vanished in a dizzying blur. Appearing beside him, her arm seemed to thrust forward, its conical tip easily ripping apart the middle right arm of his clean off with its socket. After the limb and weapon clambered to the ground with a shower of blood, Nelliel halted her movement and swung her left hand in a backhanded motion.

Before Nnoitra could fully rear around to understand what happened, a yellow burst of light struck him fully in the chest, causing spittle and blood to spew out. After sprawling for a good two dozen meters, his body struck the face of a dune, causing it to explode in a violent shower of billions of grains. With luminescent traces of solar hued sparks crackling across his marred torso, Nnoitra stood back up with a grimace.

"My Ressureccion focuses on physical attributes promoting strength _and_ speed," Nelliel continued, her eyes looking at her enemy from the distance as her hair flourished with a gust of wind, "Gamuza is a blend of power and grace. It is a wondrous and dreadful power that I have to bear but I do so for the sake of those I cherish. That is the difference in both power and perspective you can never overcome, Nnoitra."

"Such talk makes me sick," Nnoitra snarled, standing back up straight once more. With a brief exertion of dark yellow Reiatsu, a brand new arm was grown in place of the one that had been torn off. With a flick of the wrist it formed a new scythe to replace the one out of reach, causing himself to smile with renewed vigor, "it's people like you that sicken me the most. Pitying those that don't fit in your wretched standings. I loathe the concept of mercy and that's all you ever do is be merciful. Mercy is for the weak, and that's what got you that scar in the first place!"

Closing her eyes, Nelliel sighed. Nothing she could say, even now, could get through to him. Her eyes slowly opened, glancing down at the ground below, wondering if any of her actions towards Nnoitra were the right ones.

"_No,_" Nel reaffirmed, raising her stoic gaze to stare hard at the deranged Arrancar, seething with unbelievable hatred for her, "_I don't regret any of my actions up to this point. Even if I was betrayed and my friends scarred I had so many days of blissful happiness following that. They were innocent times I shall always look back at fondly. It may not have been your intention, but I thank you for sparing my life when you had an ample opportunity to kill me._"

Rising up on her hind legs, the centauress reared back her right arm and gripped her lance tightly.

Such a sight gave way to knowing alarm, causing Nnoitra to kick off into a rapid paced sprint towards her, "_I'm not going to fall to that technique! Not this time!_"

"**Lanzador Verde!**" Nel cried out, hurtling her lance forward with a powerful hurtle of her arm. Corkscrewing across space, coils of pink-hued energy gathered around its tip, steadily increasing its force and speed in equal amounts. It reached Nnoitra's charging frame in a matter of seconds, aiming to run him through out the back.

"HAAAAAA!" Nnoitra roared out mightily, swinging all of his scythes forward in a meticulously timed motion, crashing into the high speed projectile. While he felt the edges of three or more of his blades shatter, the weapon was sent off kilter and tossing to the side. The fact he succeeded in this feat caused Nnoitra to laugh haughtily, followed with a thrusting burst of Sonido to appear before Nelliel's surprised frame.

"Surprised, aren't ya?! Didn't think I could do that to your signature technique?!" Nnoitra inquired pointedly, watching her step back with disbelief, wary of the now close by cracked moon shaped weapons. "don't worry. I'll make sure to cut you up all over. This time you won't be gettin' away from me!"

Rearing back all of his blades, Nel raised her own arms back to ready a hasty defense. Before the marred weapons could make a full swing, a lime colored light of a Cero crashed straight into the unsuspecting Espada. The small explosion cast over Nnoitra's arms and weapons showed no signs of actual injury but did enough to halt his attack. Turning his head, he saw the perpetrator and was absolutely livid.

"Starrk's bitch?!" Nnoitra snarled out, both in wonderment and thorough rage.

"That's right, ugly!" Lilynette shouted back, her mask still steaming from the discharge of a Cero over her fragment. She beaded sweat from how fast she had to move to reach her in time. But now, seeing Nel in her beautiful released form, she was relieved that she was alive and that she thwarted an attempt on her life. Pointing a finger of accusation at the six-armed Arrancar, she growled out, "what the Hell, Nnoitra?! I thought you said Nel died! Why are you trying to kill her?! Want to explain that one to me, huh?!"

"I don't have time for you," Nnoitra growled, turning his head over his shoulder, shouting with afterthought, "Tesra! Kill this bitch! I don't want the Primera's toy getting news ba-!"

Nnoitra wasn't able to finish sentence, finding Nel's head ramming straight into his with incredible force. Feeling his forehead split open from the freshly healed skull of hers, Nnoitra stumbled back, disoriented and coughing. He'd faintly get a look of a rare uncharacteristic visage of unadulterated rage flash across Nelliel's face. It looked terrifying and it made him stumble back even further as a fresh wave of magnified Reiatsu blazed in a brilliant pink light around her.

"I've had," Nel began to utter in a level growl, briefly interrupted by the swiftly accelerating frame of Tersa appearing above her. Swinging his chakram sword in a downward arc, it was promptly halted by a hind leg double kick that jettisoned his body high in the air. With the aura of a pink Bala careening him high into the sky, his form would indent into the false heaven vista above them, sticking his frame into it out of reach and out of mind. Landing back on all fours, Nel shouted with her own anger brought to the forefront, "enough of your childish acts of evil!"

Seeing his subordinate handily defeated and this new look of an angered Nelliel brokered sweat upon his crown. He rationalized that he shouldn't but the intense pressure of her Reiatsu and the mere presence she generated made him feel small and obsolete. His grip shook, rattling the weapons he had in his tight grip.

Raising a hand slowly towards him, a damning blackness formed with a pink outline to it. The sphere contorted and expanded, containing a noxiously lethal power within its essence. The pressure itself shook the ground and caused grains of sand to rise, crackling in a symphony of inevitable destruction. By the time it was fully primed, he'd recognize it as a Cero, and not just any Cero...

"**Cero Oscuras!**" Nelliel shouted aloud, unleashing the black void of destructive Reishi.

Enveloping Nnoitra at point blank, the fissure of blackness roared forward, annihilating any rising mound of sand and any structure foolish enough to be erect in its high velocity path. By the time it'd finish travelling past, trailing away from its target, a distant explosion would cause a momentary eclipse of the artificial Sun that was placed over their heads. With a tinge of pink dictating the passing of bleak darkness, the mushroom cloud of the Cero's explosion in the horizon would all be left of its manifestation.

What was left of Nnoitra made Nel's stomach turn. Charbroiled meat replaced what was flesh over the majority of his limbs, now holding stumps of the proud weaponry he brandished. Smoke rose up from a bare skull, parts of his jaw's muscle and skeletal frame quite visible as was the case with parts of his torso and upper legs. His eye glared defiantly at her, to the very end, as he barely stood after such an attack.

"N-N-N...e...l," Nnoitra wheezed out just moments before his eye rolled to the back of his head. His knees crashed to the ground and his face struck the sandy ground beneath him. His life, as Nelliel felt and saw, ceased to be.

"Farewell, Nnoitra," Nelliel spoke reverently, her head bowed before the lifeless husk he was now, "I'm sorry...that I couldn't save you..."

* * *

"Oh dear," Gin said with a sigh, though retained his cold smile nonetheless, "it seems Nnoitra kicked the bucket."

"Bastard deserved what he got," Rana said aloud in a dispassionate tone, leaving what appeared to be a store room. Instead of bare skin and a ragged piece of dirty cloth, she came out donned a full uniform. A reptilian scaled breastplate conformed over her generously sized bosom, allowing the sight of a jagged red scar in the shape of the number 1 over her sternum and collarbone. The plating didn't cover her smooth narrow midriff and lower back, with a white hued kama skirt with scarlet trimming covered stark white leggings tucked into pale colored scaled boots. Gauntlets of a similar silver shine affixed over her hands up to her upper arms past a spiked pair of elbow pads, matching the pair of rex teeth pauldrons perched over her shoulders. Said shoulder armor pieces held a crimson trimmed white cape in place to trail down to her boot covered heels, for which her fiery colored hair flowed freely over to the end of her back.

Gin took time to stare at Rana with a small smile as she adjusted her gauntlets and inspected her uniform. When she turned to meet his gaze, the lavender haired man already turned his head and whistled innocently. She had to restrain herself from unsheathing the bone-hilted cutlass sheathed in a black scabbard on her left hip.

Hearing a number of other rows of feet clamber down the hall for which the store room was located, Rana's attention was averted and her grip on her sword's hilt relaxed.

Leading a number of similar uniformed entities was Sin, now trading his Warden's uniform for a large robe conforming over a silk shapely uniform similar to other Arrancars in Aizen's Modern Arrancar Army. A hood drawn over his scalp, obscuring his eyes while allowing his menacing long jawed mask to protrude from it. Axe in hand and slung over his shoulder, one could tell he was passively on guard for the slightest mishap.

"_It's certainly nice to see some old faces,_" Rana thought with a small smile, the first that expressed true enthusiasm and relief in the many years she's been imprisoned.

The foremost trailing behind the Warden was her Segunda and right-hand man during her Espada days, Soto Muerte. Dark brown locks tucked behind a partially obscuring hood, his pale visage showing a strong gaunt with a vicious scar running across the bridge of his nose down to the end of his left jaw bone. Burgundy orbs burned behind the veil of darkness created by his linen cowl, as his short yet muscular frame kept in line behind his jailer.

"_Grim as usual, though I doubt incarcerated isolation has helped his disposition in the slightest,_" Rana noted.

Looking over to Soto's left was none other than a less than pleasing face from the past, the Sexta of her generation and most loathsome associate, Sverrie Alessi. With a cloak loosely tied around her shoulders, her voluptuous chest was endowed with a white linen top, composed of translucent silk that made seeing her feminine form all too easy in the right lighting. A simple black sash was tied around her waist, doubling as a form of cloth covering for her waist and hinds quarters but did little to keep herself decent behind her luminously transparent drapes. A feather-shaped cup guarded rapier was sheathed on her left hip, jingling absently as she walked forward. A calm smile stretched across her beautiful face, full with pink lips to accentuate her snow white complexioned body, complemented by a bone-crested crown looping her hair up into a high-rise styled ponytail, draping down her shoulder blades to the center of her back.

"_That smug bitch's grin is already pissing me off,_" Rana thought with an irritated twitch.

Glancing to and fro, she noticed other familiar faces but others weren't that all memorable. Either they had been forged by the Hogyoku and had been deemed ill fit to serve or they done crimes that Lord Aizen couldn't condone but wouldn't execute them for. It didn't matter to her. Everyone in this Vanguard appeared to be disposable shock troops during the worst possible scenario to occur.

"Is everyone here?" Gin piped up, reminding to Rana's chagrin that her Commander was still only a meter to her left.

"**_Yes, Commander Ichimaru,_**" Sin rumbled out dutifully, "**_they've all been appraised of the situation in a less worded manner so they could understand. The situation, in full, shall be left up to you to debrief._**"

"Excellent!" Gin clapped with a pleased smile. Turning around to face Rana, he bowed and dramatically gestured to the mass of Arrancars forming the ranks of the Vanguard, "I leave the rest up to you, Miss Zolinder."

"You're _too_ kind," Rana whispered with a visible sneer.

Taking a brief inhale, the Privaron Primera strode forward a few steps till she was a good six meters away from the foremost ranks. A sharp nod of her head to the scowling jailer gave him the hint, scooting aside to lean against the wall, taking care to keep vigilant of the demoted lot. Seeing that everyone she remembered and more were there, she began to speak.

"My comrades! It has been many years for us since we've seen the outside of our cells. We've all done -or rather haven't done- things that made us unfit to continue to serve as members of our _benefactor's_ military. Some of us have spent time in our cells for decades while others have only been in here for a few short years. The strain of isolation and the bare minimum contact with anyone but our less than hospitable Warden has taken a toll on us all. Have we grown weak from it? No! Have our wills diminished? You wouldn't have bothered to show up if they had!" Rana emphasized with gallant gestures of her arms and hands, encouraging noises and nods of affirmation to her.

However, less scrupulous characters failed to see the point of her speech.

"Get on with it!" An Arrancar called out from the posterior of the ranks.

"If we wanted to hear speeches, I'd have stuck with Lord Aizen a long time ago!" Another quipped next to him, causing a chorus of less than courteous chuckles to ring about.

Rana twitched and gripped her gloved hands tightly, but didn't accept the bait. Exhaling through her nostrils slowly, the brief bright glint in her eyes dimmed and her desire to kill was suppressed. The only true ones to notice were Sverrie and Soto.

"Haha, these years in isolation sure haven't quelled that ugly rage of hers," Sverrie commented under her breath, stroking the top of her left breast out of habit while the other rubbed her hip in a sensual manner. "here I was hoping we'd get along better..."

"Put aside your petty vendetta, Sverrie," Soto whispered in a guttural tone, turning his hooded visage to scowl coldly at her, "or I'll cut those hands you value you so much right off!"

"No wonder Rana favors you," Sverrie rolled her eyes, crossing her arms just underneath her barely covered chest, "you two make such a lovely, if not angry couple."

"As I was saying," Rana continued in a more hardened tone, "the fortress of Las Noches that we've all come to call home at one point or another has come under assault by intruders. _Shinigami_ invaders no less."

Hearing a number of audible murmurs of queries amongst their ranks caused a brief smile of satisfaction to cross her face. The prospect of combatting their opposites, something most of them have been denied or deprived of for so long, surely sent chills of excitement and trepidation of equal measure down their spines. Hearing no particular immediate queries, she continued, emphasizing the scenario with minimal gestures.

"According to Commander Ichimaru we've already sustained heavy casualties. Among those of the outlying region to here, we cannot say, but those who retain a place within Las Noches that have lost their lives facing this threat are but the following. Dordoni Alessandro Del Socaccio, Cirucci Sanderwicci, Gantenbainne Mosqueda, Aaroniero Arruruerie, Zommari Rureaux, Grimmjow Jeagerjaques and Nnoitra Gilga," She finished, hearing an ominous silence captivate her audience. Deciding to start from her own generation's ranks to those of the present, she knew that those who would remember such names by titles or reputation struck a chord in their hearts. Fear, relief, or excitement? She couldn't say, but said emotions definitely existed among the ranks of the selected Vanguard.

She just hoped they were all up to the challenge.

"The mission is simple in nature but most undoubtedly retains a high chance of casualties being involved," Rana began to conclude, clasping her hands in front of her to gain their utmost attention, "eliminate the invading force. Should you find sympathizers or allies reinforce them, kill them as well. Leave no survivors. Doing this, I'm told by our _trustworthy _Commander Ichimaru, will earn a place within Lord Aizen's Army. If we finish in a timely manner we can even join him in the main operation that will be commencing shortly."

One hand raised up, causing Rana's gaze to be drawn to immediately, "Yes?"

"If I may be so bold," An eloquent speaking Arrancar spoke up, stepping forward in step with two others. The speaking one was endowed with a full-body cloak, looking crisp and buttoned up, akin to that of a human military's officer. Black and white hair divided down the middle curled into dreadlock curls draped over the back of his neck. A diagonal aligned row of white bone piercings embedded from his right jaw line across the bridge of his nose to his upper left cheekbone. A pair of Sai knives was holstered upon his chest within holsters respectively, brandished almost like metals from how they glinted in the dim artificial lighting of the corridor.  
Another to his right, albeit with reluctance at such proximity, was an Arrancar with an equally tall yet slender build. Donning a pale trenchcoat with black gloves, he appeared to be equally militaristic visually yet had the air of arrogance to him to match his associate. Dark brunette hair slicked back to form two opposing peaks on his crown, with a visible jagged eyebrow over his right brow while his left eye and brow line was covered by a mask fragment containing a trio of gum sized holes. He possessed a sword of a scimitar in shape slung over his shoulder by way of dark brown belted bandoleer over his coat covered torso.  
The last was standing a bit more away to his left, almost observing the events from close up rather than siding with them. Taller than the rest while appearing more physically fit, he wore more standard Arrancar attire befitting someone of a far greater standing than those beside him. A long sleeved white kosode with black trimming, it revealed his midriff down in a pyramid shaped space to reveal his abdomen just above his white hakama skirt, with a distinct circular hole taking up his navel area. A yellow hued sword was sheathed on his waist, kept in his left hand's grip for readiness as his visible right thin browed eye stared at the two, his slicked back dark blue hair covered on its leftmost side while retaining a bone-ridged fragment that kept a triangular shaped eyehole.

"Who the Hell are you?" Rana asked bluntly, her eyes glaring daggers already at the man who acted so brazen in his mannerisms.

"Ah, yes. Where are my manners?" The Black and white haired Arrancar began.

"You had those?" The brunette Arrancar quipped with a sneering grin, earning a side-glancing scowl from his associate before he continued.

"My name is Luders Friegen, Arrancar #44," He finally continued, bowing slightly forward, quickly rising back to his full height. Gesturing lazily to either side, he smiled as he spoke in his presumptuous tone, "to my right is Asguiaro Ebern, Arrancar #42. The less respectful fellow to my left is Patros, Arrancar #59."

"Leave me out of whatever you're plotting," Patros said with a nasally tone, fixing a one-eyed glare while remaining in his steadfastly stoic position, "if you're going to ask her something, then do it. Don't waste all of our time with your pointless antics!"

"Touchy," Luders chuckled with amusement, returning his stare back at the glaring Rana, "I am curious as to whom is going to be in charge of this operation."

"Exactly how would that affect your performance in completing this simplest of simplistic tasks?" Rana asked pointedly, crossing her arms over her armored breasts.

"As you might have guessed, some of us aren't too fond of his majesty and the way he does things around here," Luders said without apology, grinning widely as he did so, exchanging a glance with Gin and Sin before returning back to the female Arrancar, "if we are going to be led by someone whose devoutly supportive of his ways and the cemented laws he embedded into our lives, then I may have a particular problem with said leader."

"Or," Asguiaro cued in, smiling cockily himself, "someone like you who tried to rebel against Aizen yet failed. I may not trust a leader who fails in her plans that were doomed to fail from the start. How am I supposed to trust that kind of superior?"

"So, what you're suggesting is," Rana spoke slowly, furrowing her brows to permeate a crease of visible irritation on her visage, "you'd rather have a figurehead that has no respect or acknowledgement of Aizen's laws or military. That you yourselves would make better leaders than a Shinigami would. Is that right?"

"While I wouldn't have said that," Luders leaned his head to the left, grinning darkly, "but I can't deny that sounds better than the alternative."

"I may not agree to this guy being _the_ leader," Asguiaro cued in, smiling in an equally malicious manner towards the red-haired Privaron, "I'd rather trust anyone other than a Privaron!"

The sounds of anticipation and anxiety brokered out among the Vanguard. Already there brewed mutiny, an attempt to usurp power from their would-be Vanguard Commander. The minority backed away, not wishing to be dragged into it, were outweighed by the majority who formed a half circle behind the brash duo and the closely observing third.

"That's a shame," Rana slurred out in a bored tone, unfurling a hand while gesturing a hand in their direction.

It happened quicker than the two thought possible. An explosion of gore splattered across Asguiaro's cheek and coat, causing his eye to widen and his body to flinch with horror. What had been the dominant arm of Luders detonated into a shower of blood and fleshy pieces, covering himself and his rightmost associate immediately. His eyes widened shortly before he let out a pained howl.

"I could have used some men with your ideology at my side," Rana murmured dryly, her extended hand crackling with scarlet tendrils, the telltale sign of a Bala discharge recently used, "but since you outright challenged me, you're no better than ungrateful dogs. Incapable of being pleased with your portion you bite the hand of the master that offers it to you for the idea of having a bigger cut. Dogs like you...need to be put down."

"YOU WITCH!" Luders cried out, his comrade growling in sync. Both reached for their respective weapons, ignoring the instantaneous attack that neither could follow, nor the obvious distance in power.

Neither of them were given the chance to follow up their threats. Moving at a speed contrary to the bulk he possessed, Sin appeared in front of them with a succinctly low tuned buzz. Swinging his axe down without remorse or hesitation, the double edged executioner blade cleaved cleanly down Luders' body from his head down to the floor. The thunderous smash that followed the symmetrical severing of his body sent his two parts scattered to either side of the corridor, causing Patros to backpedal away deftly to avoid being struck by the bloody carcass half while Asguiaro took to the air.

"Damned Shinigami lapdog!" Asguiaro snarled out, thrusting his two knives towards the brute's shoulders. With horror he saw the blades shatter upon contact, unable to even pressure the thick Hierro lying underneath the robed skin. Seeing himself weaponless, he was unable to defend against the backstroke of the axe, cutting his elbows and midsection in a clean half. A gurgle of bloody protest sounded before his eye rolled up, following a final decapitating strike that cut him as he fell to the ground.

As silence elapsed over the midst of the Vanguard, Sin rose up to his full height, cleaning his axe with a shred of the corpse's own coat. Looking over to the still standing ranks, Sin gutturally promised through his mask, "**_Try that again, and this will be your fate. I am more capable than most of you believe yourselves to be. Lord Aizen's words are law here, even in the darkest depths of his Palace. Through Commander Ichimaru, he has saw fit that Rana Zolinder be named your leader. If any of you have a qualm with that, you will have to go through me before even attempting to challenge her authority!_**"

Seeing any further signs of resistance effectively neutralized, Sin nodded respectfully to Rana before returning to his wall.

"_For whatever it's worth, I'm glad I have the Warden on my side,_" Rana thought with a curt smile, seeing the effects of his execution of the two rebels. Noticing that Patros had skirted back to the rearmost ranks of the assorted ranks, she could only assume he knew that from observation he had no chance. Would he betray them later? She could only keep an eye on him for the chance he may take in usurping her own authority.

Turning on her heels with a flourish of her cape, Rana motioned to them with her left gloved hand to follow. Wordlessly she commanded the ranks of those who were formerly imprisoned, now given the opportunity to return to Aizen's good graces. Each of their uniformed visages walked past Commander Ichimaru and Jailer Sin respectively, marching down the hall to rise to the taller levels of the Palace and head to their destination. It wouldn't be until the last pair walked past that Sin joined them as well, keeping an eye from behind so none may escape or try anything hostile.

"_What a lively bunch Aizen's chosen as his Vanguard,_" Gin thought with a thin smile, watching them disappear around the corner. After hearing the last of their steps echo into silence, he himself turned to go back to his spot in the Comm room, "_I better keep an eye on things. Who knows if I may miss the most exciting parts before our departure?_"

* * *

**A/N:** And done! So sorry for the wait, it's taken me awhile for a number of reasons I know would bore you if I went into detail. Needless to say, I got my writing mojo back and I am anticipating on getting another Chapter done this week, perhaps even a couple days! I hope the Chapter wasn't too long or boring, for I really put my all into most of this update.

As some have you been asking about if Aaroniero can access her assimilated aspects/(powers) unique to each person she devoured, I hope this Chapter answered that. While she's trying to keep a low profile, at the very moment, there may come a time when she has to show just what kind of threat she's become. Just how dangerous? You'll have to wait to find out ;)

I hope I did Nelliel's victory over Nnoitra more justice than was handled in Canon. Considering how she was shamelessly depowered so that Kenpachi could take the glory of beating this one-eyed bastard, I wanted to give her a better part. Even though it wasn't a completely one-sided victory, I thought it was best that I threw Lilynette in there so I wouldn't forget her and that she had some kind of attachment to our lovely Centauress Arrancar

Kudos to anyone who saw the Easter Egg Arrancars I had mentioned in the Vanguard's ranks. I hope you liked those I intend to keep around for awhile as they are original characters I worked up of my own imagination. The only one that I had some reference material (for both personality and character concept) to work off of was the lovely and seductive Sverrie Alessi. She was a character that I worked up my own design to match the personality given. I hope people like what I have in store for her ;)

And once again thank Lastation for helping with the Editing process as he's previewed this before I posted this in mint condition :)

I think that covers everything, yes, that's it. See you all in the next update, to which I hope it's soon. See ya all in the next, _**A Predator Among Us!**_


	5. Old Hatred Never Ages

**A Predator Among Us**

* * *

Far off near the outer perimeter of Las Noches desert enclosure, little conflict was seen. In the distance, the faint echoes of monumental battle was to be heard and felt. Flashes of light, haphazard trails of Reishi carving and demolishing the landscape for kilometers around. Should such a number of forces do battle within a populated area, there surely be no life at this moment within its borders.

But one thing happened that be outside of most watchful eyes. Something that warped and rippled the space high up in the interior space of Las Noches. Just below the clouds opened a black eye, opening to reveal nothing but silhouettes from within. Such an eye appeared to emanate out of nothing, penetrating the fabric of the dimension directly in the heart of enemy territory.

Among such silhouettes stood three noteworthy individuals. The first to step forward was the Haori cloaked Head of the Kuchiki Clan, Byakuya Kuchiki. His eyes drifted down to the solar lit sands below their skyline vantage point, already observing the environment with keen eyes and even sharper senses. Looking to his left, he could feel what most undoubtedly was a host of hostile Reiatsu, overlapping a few familiar ones.

"It appears that we're a good distance from the actual targets," The second figure of the three spoke, being the burgundy complexioned white haired Lieutenant of the First Division, Chōjirō Sasakibe. His specially tailored white cloak flourished around his Shikhakushō, his left hand kept dutifully by his sword while the other remained idle at his side. His eyes were drawn in the same direction as Byakuya's as he spoke. "and it appears there's a number of considerably powerful ones where we need to go."

"Bah! You worry too much, Lieutenant," A dour pitched voice commented, revealing the third and most foreboding silhouette now revealed as the Captain of the 12th Division and President of the R&amp;D, Mayuri Kurotsuchi. Now outfitted in a getup that modified his crest into a more cobra styled headdress, having even adopted a golden chin brace similar to what Pharaohs wore. He smiled a chilling golden toothed grin, as he cast his gaze forward, away from the objective, "there are a number of other fine specimens away from the large collaborative. One of which I've had the most fortunate pleasure of studying on the way through the Garganta and prior. You can have your glorious battle of barbarism and mayhem while I can conduct my research!"

"Do what you will, Captain Kurotsuchi," Byakuya said in a cold, detached tone, "I am going to complete our directive in what we set out to do in the first place. Keep in mind about your duties when performing your _experiments_."

It was only when Byakuya kicked off the Garganta's edge did his body free fall to the earth, leaving behind a infuriated Captain behind. When a number of shadowy silhouettes, including the Lieutenant, went with him, the face-painted Shinigami rolled his eyes. Looking over his shoulder, he saw his faithful "daughter" and subordinate waiting attentively.

"C'mon, Nemu!" Captain Kurotsuchi said raspily, before smiling deviously as he too free fell off the Garganta's opening to the desert below, "it's time we collect some specimens!"

* * *

**Chapter **

_**OLD HATRED NEVER AGES**_

**Five**

* * *

**Earlier**

"_Something isn't right_," Aaroniero thought from within her undetected enclosure. Her eyes were closed as she remained in a meditative stance, passively using her **Busqueda la Mente** to detect all Reiatsus within a large radius. From what she could sense a number of Reiatus emerged on the horizon. "_they're all Arrancars, yet they seem familiar. Wait, is that...oh no!_"

The Vanguard. Those of which Aaroniero was told of when many Arrancars who weren't executed found themselves buried in the bowels of the White Citadel's dungeon. A last resort of directive defense measures taken when the primary military couldn't combat the intruding threat or was unable to respond due to any number of reasons.

Despite their arrival, she managed to form a hidden smile.

"_It seems Aizen isn't going to send in the elite three. This bodes well for me, for I still have need to collect the targets that I need to further my evolution. Even if it comes down to it, I'm certain any one of my Calaveras can handle them_," Aaroniero concluded with a calming sigh, refocusing her efforts on acquiring her prey. From what she could tell, Szayel was continuing his sadistic games, keeping his enemies alive for as long as possible. She didn't dare cross him without a precise method of bringing him down, especially in the state her Pesquisa is analyzing him retaining. "_I'll make sure to have the Calavera heading in his direction hold back and suppress Reiatsu. Don't want to give away my intent just yet. As for the others, I'll just quietly pick off the corpse and the dying one. The one stuck in the sky isn't as strong as the rest, but I can't be a picky eater at a time like this, can I?_"

* * *

Everything ached. Every twitch, every muscular contraction, and every breath inhaled caused daggers to drag across every possible nerve ending. With every palm gripping the deceivingly cool sand, a groan emitted from his mouth as he pulled himself forward. Blood oozed from deep gashes over his chest, a perforation over his midsection having long since halted the majority of its leakage looked dark in its coloration.

The whole situation was the most humiliating that Grimmjow had been in.

"Gah...Gah...Gah," Grimmjow heaved heavily as he crawled on all fours. Leaving a considerable blood trail from which he had been left to die by the bastard Nnoitra, he forced himself to move as the conflict against Ichigo and surprisingly the childlike brat. Who knew she was really Nelliel, the former Tres Espada?

It didn't matter to him. He just needed to reach his gleaming blade, the source of his power, half buried in the sand ahead of him. Only six meters ahead. All he had to do was pull himself forward another five meters and then reach out. Anything that came after was irrelevant. He needed his sword!

"Just got to reach for it...just a little further...a little more!" Grimmjow growled gutturally, finding himself dragging belly down to get to his destination. One hand reached after the other as grimaced, feeling the grains of sand burrow into his wounds. He swore one of his injuries deepened as he continued to levy himself over the sandy plains.

Gasping out, Grimmjow clawed his body upwards before falling flat onto his face. Grunting, Grimmjow grinded his face up, spitting out mouthfuls of sand. Gritting his teeth he pushed his arm through the sand, having it emerge up to be but inches from the azure threads that made up his hilt.

When the sand was kicked up by a sandal-bound foot, flipping up into the air to be caught in an inverted grip, Grimmjow blinked agape. Craning his head with strained gasps, his blurry vision gave him the outline of a very familiar Shinigami. One of which he saw in a past meeting with Aizen and the other Espadas upon their intrusion into Hueco Mundo. One that he impaled with his very hand and felt the broadcast of her slaying Aaroniero. The very one that stared coldly down on his frame as if he didn't mattered, and was pitiable.

It sickened him to be looked down upon by _this _lowly Shinigami.

"B-B...itch!" Grimmjow snarled up between wheezing breaths, his brow caked in sweat and dried blood as he glared upwards at her, "g-give...me...that!"

What followed wasn't a witty retort or a spiteful phrase. Instead he'd feel white hot pain as his own sword thrust down into the back of his hand, sliding through his palm into the sand below. If he wasn't already in pain, he knew he'd exclaim fury among a slew of curses under his breath. The best he could do was stare incredulously at the sword piercing his hand, driven deep through his flesh and into the sandy soil below.

"I seem to recall you pinning Ichigo down this way when he wasn't a match for you," Calavera Rukia said with venom, a cold stare of indifference to the Arrancar's plight projected from her violet eyes, "was your quest in becoming ruler of Hueco Mundo worth it? What a pitiful sight for a King, worthless scum!"

"Why...you-!" Grimmjow began to growl, finding himself cut off by what he saw. The left hand of the Shinigami seemed to warp and twist out of shape. It became a dark purple, tubular tentacle with sick mucous layered over it and saliva ebbing out of a sharp toothed maw. The edges of the maw expanded, easily blocking his view of the Sun glaring down on him. The silhouette of the predatorial tendril rushing towards him gave him the stark, humiliating realization.

**The King had become Prey. **

* * *

"_Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez has been devoured_," Aaroniero thought with a humored smile, "_guess you aren't as Kingly as you thought yourself to be, hm?_"

With him out of the way, Aaroniero focused on her remaining goals. Already she had one taking flight overhead, reaching the altitude of which the canopy's top resided within. From her Calavera's eyes she could see a large pillar of smoke ebbing from the farthest walled off area of Las Noches. The Cero Oscuras carved a deep trench across the Palace's sands out into Hueco Mundo's wastes.

"_I'd best not approach Nelliel with hostile intent. There's no way any of my Calaveras can stand up to her, meals or no_," The Shinigami bodied Arrancar decided with rightful caution. Already the one in the "sky" of Las Noches found Tesra Lindocruz. As the Calavera there began to feast upon the Quinto's Fraccion, she felt the other approach the Quinto's corpse.

* * *

"Finally," Aaroniero whispered lowly to herself, finding some merit of accomplishment in her actions. She could already feel the Calavera closest to Szayel halt just half a kilometer away from his battlefield. From there she'll monitor his movements. The Calaveras having finished with Grimmjow and Tesra are to return to her once the last has completed her meal, "soon, I'll have enough power to challenge even the Upper Three. Then I can worry no longer about opposition!"

It took a little longer to reach the corpse of Nnoitra than she thought. The Calavera had to hide her Reiatsu to such an extent that using Shunpo was out of the question. She dared not risk a confrontation with the former Tres or the Shinigami she's apparently with. Dashing and leaping from dune to dune, the Rukia bodied offspring continued to move with haste.

With a skidding halt, Aaroniero finally found her duplicate's form directly in front of Nnoitra's corpse. Already the crispy residual parts of barely intact flesh began to flake away, turning into dust shortly after flowing up into the atmosphere. The sign of spiritual body corrosion was already under effect.

"_Better make this quick!_" She decided, kneeling before the body. With a thrust into the body's backside, her hand contorted and shifted into its tendril makeup. Easily breaking up the decaying body into edible matter, only a handful of seconds passed by before the entire broken form of the Arrancar was absorbed into her being.

"_Finally!_" Aaroniero thought, causing her Calavera's face to light up with a beaming smile. Forcing its hand back into its original shape, it clenched its digits experimentally as it felt the power store itself within her innermost being. A slight giggle escaped her lips as her smile turned cheshire with how delighted she was to have accomplished her goals, for the most part. "_all that's left is to wait for Szayel to finish off his prey and I can scavenge off his leftovers. With all four returning to me at once, it would be a simple matter of being __discreet_-"

Her thoughts were interrupted when white hot pain flashed in her mind, having been felt directly upon the recently fed Calavera's backside. The force of the attack sent her sprawling through an entire pile of sand, causing it to explode violently upon her exit out the other side. Tumbling head over toe, her body barely regained a crouched posture to face her attacker.

What her Calavera's eyes caused Aaroniero's and her duplicate's to widen to alarm. Casually appearing within a whip of buzzing air was a beautiful Arrancar, over twice the height of her when standing. An outstretched hand pointed lazily, still sparkling with crimson energy, as her half-lidded gaze stared down her offspring's hunched and pain-ridden form.

"Why hello there, pretty thing," Rana said with an amused smile stretching across her face, hand lowering down to her side, "fancy meeting you here. Sorry about the greeting. I'd brought sake cups so we can chit-chat about the weather and braid each other's hair, but I thought a Bala to your spine would have done justice to the Hollow way of greeting a Shinigami!"

"_There's no mistaking it. It's her. The Last Primera, Rana Zolinder!_" Aaroniero thought as her limited clone winced and beaded sweat down her messy banged brows. From simple deduction, she could feel a large purple bruise formed over her back. Steam ebbed from the heat of the concussive Reishi cannon ball that hit her barely covered, unprotected back. Her collar of her kosode barely kept her desert cloak intact, having been torn apart by the bludgeoning the projectile put upon her person. "_this isn't good. I can't afford to lose Nnoitra's Aspect in a fight against her. Even if she's yesterday's news, her power back then could easily trump my Calavera's. What should I do? Retreat?_"

"Not the chatty type? That's alright," Rana jeered aloud, taking a few casual strides as she leveled her gaze in a lethal light at her enemy, "I got time to kill."

"I'm not interested in fighting you," Aaroniero's Calavera sneered, drawing her Zanpakutou shortly before backpedaling away, "but I'm not going to let you get the better of me!"

"That so?"

Aaroniero froze as she felt her back painfully run into Rana's knee. With the breath rushing out of her lungs, she saw the afterimage of Rana's person that was standing a good distance away moments ago, disappear as if it was a mirage. Coughing, she turned around her swung in counterattack, cleaving the air in a horizontal fashion. Meeting Rana's neck, the blade rebounded with a spray of orange sparks, causing a shot of pain to rush up Aaroniero's arm for even attempting to cut her.

"Now that's just sad," Rana mused, cocking her head in the direction the blade had stroked moments ago, "was that sword really filled with your Reiatsu, or are you just fucking with me right now?"

"_Shit, she wasn't even phased!_" Aaroniero thought with visible alarm. The Calavera stepped back warily, unable to hide the fear it felt towards Rana's imposing form. Her enemy sighed with irritation, scratching her scalp with clear annoyance at this revelation.

"Just great! Here I outran the others so I could get a piece of some action by attacking an intruder worth my time. But here you are. Can't dodge, can't run, and can't fight. What a pathetic Shinigami you are," Rana said dryly, raising her gaze back towards the Calavera's shaking and gasping frame.

"_I have to get the others to help. I need this body extracted, or else-!_"

Aaroniero stopped herself when she felt the searing pain of a knife positioned hand pierced her chest with little consequence. Rana's towering frame made it easy for her to lift the Calavera's body off the ground, squirming and gurgling. Blood oozed out of her mouth as she uselessly batted her blade and feet against the amazonian built woman.

"Sayonara," Rana whispered aloud, just shortly before a brilliant scarlet Cero exited the Calavera's backside. Only a few twitched of movement were left before the limp body fell to the ground with a lifeless look in her eyes. Sword clattered just out of reach, as a large hole with ember lit flesh burned within the center of her uniform's chest and midriff.

* * *

Feeling her connection cut off from her Calavera, she knew that any hope of extracting her back to her person was a lost cause. Even within her safe spot, Aaroniero couldn't help but slam her fists onto the ground out of frustration, screaming behind her teeth. Her eyes closed and her brows knitted together with incredulous anger.

After palming her hands into the sand for a full minute, she began to regain her composure, with only a few remnants of anger wheezing out of her nostrils. Returning to her meditative state, she initiated her Pesquisa, following the current that was Rana's impressionable Reiatsu. There she felt a host of Reiatsus follow her, now in direct tow of her. To her surprise and relief, she saw that they left the body unattended.

"_I'll send the skybound Calavera to devour that corpse. It still has Nnoitra's essence within it, so combining his with his Fraccion's should be fine. I just have to make sure to give it time to access that power this time around, otherwise I'll have a repeating action occurring_," Aaroniero plotted, already directing the Calavera in question to rapidly employ Shunpo. Feeling no change in direction of the Vanguard's movements, she felt confident to move her other Calaveras appropriately.

It was at that point, also, that Aaroniero became very aware of just how close the Vanguard were to Ichigo and Nel's position. With their attention now solely fixated upon them, she can plan a means of not only acquiring more sustenance but initiate her own next moves. If she was to survive, she can't wait for her pawns to return back to her.

"A little payback never hurts either, now does it?" Aaroniero whispered to herself with a dark smile as she glared at the horizon.

* * *

"You feeling better, Ichigo?" Orihime asked from her standing spot, hands splayed out in a comforting manner.

"A lot, thanks to you," Ichigo said with a relieved smile. Slowly yet surely, aches and injuries began to fade away as if they hadn't been there in the first place. From scrapes to cuts, bruises to fractures, the phenomena that caused his injuries was being undone one bit at a time by Orihime's incredible powers. If he only knew just how incredible of an ability it was, Ichigo would feel more in awe from her _healing touch_, as it were.

He could only wonder how Nel was doing. Thoughts lingered to the beautiful warrioress that came from the body of a child that he had been protecting. In turn when he was at his most weakest, he was defended by her, someone who cared for him deeply. Her fight seemed colossal in scale, even outstripping his own battle with Grimmjow that he had only minutes ago. Even when it seemed, from what he saw lingering in the distance, that she was on the losing end she never gave up. For some reason or another she was almost a mirror of the best attributes in himself without reflecting any of his own vices.

As he let out a sigh, staring off in a daze after where Nelliel was galloping in the distance, Orihime could see something behind his gaze. An unknown desire that he himself hadn't been aware of but only she could piece together. Ever since Nelliel's awakening, rescuing Ichigo in a timely fashion, and then taking the fight to the horrible Arrancar Orihime had a pit in her stomach. She had been completely useless, unable to even protect herself let alone the person who came to her rescue.

Yet when Nel showed up in Ichigo's time of need, she could only stand by and pitifully hope everything turn out alright.

"_She's stronger than I'll ever be. Someone like that is made for Ichigo,_" Orihime thought as she turned her head to her right. With her bangs hiding her eyes, only a sparkle of light refracted off the lone tear that trailed down her face.

It was during their bouts of reveries that the sudden rush of wind kicking up across Ichigo and Orihime's bodies caused them both to blink with surprise. While Orihime refocused her gaze over her left side sheepishly, Ichigo simply leaned forward. There in her glorious released Centauress form, something the two had only seen from afar, stood Nelliel herself. Sitting upon her backside, hugging her waist tightly, was another young Arrancar neither had seen before.

But from the way Nel smiled and regarded the girl, it was clear she was a friend of hers.

"Wow! What a rush," Lilynette giggled with joy, her hair sticking up in a fray from the high velocity winds that disheveled her lime hued tresses. Looking up at Nel's shoulder glancing visage, she smiled widely as she held her waist, "it's been forever since I've had so much fun! I forgot how fast you are!"

"I'm glad you've enjoyed the ride," Nel said affectionately, rubbing the young girl on her head, matting her hair back onto her crown in a neater manner. Nodding to the ground with her lance wielding arm, she spoke softly, "you need to get off now, though. I need to recover from my battle with Nnoitra and to do that, I'll need to seal my power back into my Zanpakutō."

"Gotcha," Lilynette said with an affirmative nod. Deftly, she propped herself into a two-hand springing handstand on her Centauress back. With a bend of her knees and arms, she leaped up and twirled around in an acrobatic twirl to land onto her feet gracefully next to Nel. With a wave of her arms, she proclaimed loudly, "TA-DAAAAA!~"

Hearing the lack of applause, barring an encouraging clap by Nel, Lilynette lowered her arms to her sides and retracted her grin immediately. Pouting her lips, she placed her hands on her hips as she stared at Ichigo and Orihime's bewildered expressions. Furrowing her visible brow, she asked aloud in a snide tone, "Who the Hell are you guys? Shinigami? Human?"

"_Great,_ another _brat,_" Ichigo thought with a visibly dry twitch of a now irritative expression crossing his face, "_here I thought I didn't have to deal with a kid and now I get one that's easily my sister's age if not older. Tween's already glaring at me and I don't like it!_"

Orihime could only smile sweetly while trying to maintain composure, failing to conceal the nervous sweat beading down her brow. She could tell that this girl's abrasive nature was a default defense mechanism. Her doting attitude towards Nel vanished the moment she acknowledged their presence, making her an avowed preferential person.

"_It's like she's Nel's little sister,_" Orihime noted with a softer smile, earning a childish scowl from Lilynette at her.  
"Hey! What's so funny?!" Lilynette stepped forward, raising up a balled fist to shake at her with indignation, matching the look of iration across her visage, "you makin' fun of me?!"

"No, it's just," Orihime began to say, smiling in a beaming manner as she kept focus on healing Ichigo's injuries, "you look as if you really like Miss Nel, that's all."

Lilynette's entire demeanor shrank, as if her button was pushed precisely. Her cheeks lit up like beets as she stood up and turned away. Averting her gaze from the analytical brown eyes of the human girl, Lilynette retorted in a bashful stammer, "S-Stupid! You shouldn't go around saying things like that!"

"No need to be harsh to them, Lily," Nelliel said aloud, drawing all gazes back to her as she spoke. Her stature shrank as most her body became wrapped up in pink light. The flared horns of her mask fragment retracted into smaller curled angles, retaining the healed state the mask had undergone minus the missing teeth. As her human torso was exposed and the last remaining fragments of Gamuza was resealed into the crescent guarded sword, she sheathed it into the scabbard being held within her left hand. When the last wafting remnants of pink Reishi left her form, eyes around her expanded exponentially by all viewers, unnoticed by Nelliel as she finished speaking, "Ichigo is someone I care for deeply, and anyone that's his friend is also my fr-"

"Uh...Nel," Lilynette began to say, her face turning beet red at what she saw below Nelliel's waistline.

"Hm?" Nel looked down, blinking curiously at what was causing a cool draft upon her slender legs. Naked legs that had nothing covering her thighs up to her curvy shaped hips and pelvis. The sight of her nude frame took her a few moments to process as she looked up at Orihime's eye-shut and Ichigo's agape expressions. Both of them looked equally bashful. Cocking her head to the side, she propped her hand upon her right hip, using the pommel of her sheathed sword to scratch the side of her head, "what's the big deal?"

"Y-Y-You dumbass!" Lilynette shouted, leaping out in front of Nel's front, desperately trying to cover the sight of her unclothed lower region with her own slim body, "you transformed while wearing those rags, didn't you?! Now you're walking around showing your-!"

"I don't see what the problem is," Nel pouted her lips childishly, tapping Lilynette atop her head, "you've seen me naked before, haven't you?"

"B-But N-Nel! That strawberry haired Shinigami's a GUY!" Lilynette enunciated aloud, leaning her head in Ichigo's direction with strained craning gestures of her neck.

With a flutter of her eyes, Nelliel raised her head to look at Ichigo across the sandy distance. She noted how his eyes were wide and his pupils were shrunken to the size of pins. A thin dribble of blood leaked out of his nose, flowing down towards his chin. Most of all, his face was a very vivid complexion of crimson.

With a gasp, Nelliel raised her free hand up to cup her mouth with shock.

"_Finally, she gets it,_" Lilynette sighed in thought, emphasizing her relief with a wry, if not embarrassed smile.

The next moment later, Lilynette found herself bowled over by the rapidly leaping Nelliel, with her legs upturned, arms splayed out, and her head slamming into the desert earth below. With a grunt, she saw from her upside down angle that she sailed through the air, shattering through the Sōten Kisshun shield. She saw her glomp the dazed, now audibly startled man and hug him in a constrictive embrace around his shoulders and back, pushing his face into her bosom forcefully.

"Don't die, Ichigo!" Nel cried out, smothering his orange locks with her face as her arms squeezed tightly over his neck and the back of his head.

"C-C-Can't...breathe...!" Ichigo croaked in between the emerald clothed bosom, arms flailing at being assaulted so nonsensically.

"M-Miss Nel!" Orihime cried out, now looking embarrassed and horrified all at once.

"_She didn't get it at all!_" Lilynette thought with a visible vein beating over her inverted browline.

Feeling the repeated slaps to her back and head, Nelliel halted her insistent squeezing and released Ichigo from her buxom embrace. Seeing him inhale lungfuls of air, his face thoroughly flushed from just being close to a nearly nude woman. Still squatting over him she gently leaned back in and hugged him in a much more tender fashion, earning a look of surprise on the Substitute's face once again.

"I'm so glad you're okay," Nelliel said with a smile. From Orihime's perspective, one outside of Ichigo's knowledge, she could see hints of tears escaping Nel's closed eyes as she hugged him tightly against herself.

Awkwardly, Ichigo returned the hug, ignoring the uncomfortable status of her decency. He had almost forgotten that she fought for his sake and was worried for his wellbeing. Being the type to not shrug off someone's feelings, Ichigo returned the embrace even if it was outside his own comfort zone. Not that holding her was unpleasant, as her womanly frame felt comforting against his own.

Orihime had to steel herself not to snap or to look away. She knew it would be childish if she involved her personal feelings over someone Ichigo just met. Her more rational side dissuaded Ichigo's words of fascination over Nel, finding it simply as simple awe for what defining characteristics she possessed.

One of which she was helping keep modest.

Erecting a smaller Sōten Kisshun shield around Nelliel's waistline down to her knees, she began the hasty rejection process of restoring what had been lost. Swiftly emerald threads began to manifest out of thin air, wrapping themselves snugly around the luscious legs all the way up to her hips, forming short emerald green skirt. Knowing that was all she could get away with in their proximate state, she dispelled the barrier, feeling that she did her best to restore Ichigo's vitality as well.

"Whew!" Orihime said with a purposeful sigh, wiping her forehead to attract the pair's attention. Said attention also lessened their embrace, causing them to separate, causing her to smile as normal while letting out an unintentional sigh of relief. Pumping her arm up, she grinned ear to ear with pride, "I got you all fixed up, Ichigo! I even replaced Miss Nel's garments!"

Hearing this, both of them stood up and examined themselves.

Ichigo felt like a million bucks. Any signs of damage he took from both Grimmjow and Nnoitra had been completely erased. Even the marring scuffs upon his cloak were gone, a testament to how truly restored he was. What intrigued him most was the fact he didn't feel all that tired, as if the space of time he took not fighting while watching Nel battle on his behest gave him time to reclaim his lost Reiryoku.

As Ichigo gripped his hands experimentally, Nel whined in a put-out manner at seeing her skirt restored.

"I liked the feeling of nothing covering my leg-GAH!" Nelliel began to say to herself, finding herself yelping as her bum was poked hard by Lilynette's single horned head. Landing back onto her feet, she rubbed her clothed bum while furrowing her brows indignantly at her, "what was that for?!"

"You being a idiot, that's what!" Lilynette yelled back, heaving heavily, still brushing sand off her lithe frame. Groaning she massaged her temples, closing her eyes as she voiced her thoughts, "between you and Starrk, I swear I act like the adult most often."

"No need to be so violent, Lilynette," Nelliel said with a huff.

Before Lilynette could work up a retort the sound of a scoffing laugh could be heard. Following the visual blur of a swift arrival via Sonido, Lilynette's eye bugged out at what she saw. Draped in a barbarian warrioress uniform, complete with spiked pauldrons and a cape to complement her scarlet hued tresses flowing down her back, flourishing within the current of wind. Crimson eyes glared at Lilynette and Nelliel in particular, a sardonic tone emitting from her lips as she spoke, "Please! As if Nelliel doesn't have a violent bone in her body!"

"Y-You're-!"

"-Rana!" Nelliel finished after Lilynette, finding her own face imitating shock that was mimicked across the group.

"Been a long time, hasn't it, Nelliel?" Rana asked with a vindictive smile, cocking her head to the side as she crossed her arms over her expansive chest.

"Not long enough," Nel retorted as she bent her knees, gripping the scabbard of her weapon tightly as her eyes narrowed, "what are you doing here?"

"Heh, that's all you have to say? I'm disappointed," Rana began to say with an amused smile, before it lengthened to become predatorial, "did you forget what happened fifty years ago? I haven't. I've counted every day I've spent in that Hellhole of a cell. I remember vividly that scene of your stone cold face as you assisted in the deposing of _my_ rank. _My Espada!_"

"The rank and power of the Espada isn't yours to use upon your own whim. We swore on oath to our benefactor, Lord Aizen, that we would continue to be his blades to achieve his goal. That is what means to be an Espada," Nelliel responded back stoically, her gaze and stance never wavering, "you lost your way when you believed the Espada belonged to you, Zolinder."

Rana didn't bother responding, only visibly twitching. Unfurling her arms from her bosom, she clenched her digits into tightened fists. Red eyes burned brightly, her hair flourishing upwards in a dance of gravity defying motion, glistening with a blood hued aura emanated by her own steadily rising Reiatsu. The sand began to gently part around the soles of her boots, sending a bristling wave of hot wind cascading across the land around her.

Ichigo could only stand by and grip his fists with anxiousness. Another enemy showed itself, this one having a past with Nel to boot. Glancing briefly over his shoulder he noted that his sword was close by. "_At least I can get to it easily. If Nel and I team up, we should be able to take her down before we-_"

The cacophony of Sonidos sounding off caused Ichigo's thoughts to stop dead in his tracks. Distortive blurs dissipated, revealing many cloaked figures, all bearing similar white hued uniforms of various designs and style preference.

"_Where the Hell did they come from?!_" Ichigo thought with a grimace, grinding his teeth as he gnashed visibly at them with a turn of his head in every direction, "_there's a lot of 'em! Can we take them all on?!_"

"**_Zolinder,_**" The most proximate and largest of the Arrancars, Sin, rumbled out. This earned a dispelling of her aura, a visible sign she was paying attention. When she turned to look up at him over her shoulder, "**_it isn't wise to accelerate yourself ahead of us. There is safety in numbers, after all._**"

"I can handle myself. Besides, you were moving too slow," Rana quipped with a gnash of her teeth.

"**_We need to be smart about how we approach the-!_**"

During the split second he was talking, Nelliel's crouched form seemed to blur forward, moving faster than Sin could follow. Reaching Rana's space, she thrust her sheathed weapon, the katana's pommel racing towards the scarred cleavage. Upon impact, a devastating shockwave of pink Reiatsu billowed outwards, causing a number of proximate Arrancars to be flung back helplessly.

"**_Ngh!_**" Sin buckled and felt himself pushed back a few steps, caught off guard by the turquoise haired woman's attack. Blinking away the sand stinging his eyes, his crocodilian mask parted slightly, looking surprised at whom was striking Rana. Someone he hadn't seen in over fifty years, "**_Lady...Tres?_**"

While Sin was in awestruck, many of the Arrancars looked on with surprise, not having noticed who Rana was facing till now. Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck, the Tres of the Espada that replaced the first generation. Despite her change in attire no one could forget her unmistakable appearance and attractive form. The power they felt cemented her identity as her Reiatsu thrummed to life around them.

"Did that bitch go down?!" Lilynette asked, coughing as she rose up from her own toppled position, while Ichigo had stood his ground to gape openly. When Lilynette saw the look of disbelief and sweat bead down his face, she could tell something was up. Looking over to see what happened, her own eye widened with shock at what she saw, "n-no way!"

There stood Nel, the pommel of her sword grinding into a resisting surface. Said impact wasn't the intended target, but a swiveled defensive palm, grasping the sword hilt and deflecting the force of the attack. Rana only now decided to turn her head to look Nelliel's own shock-ridden grey eyes with her own crimson orbs. A bemusing grin slid across her face, presenting a menacing visage complemented by the stream of heated Reishi dispersing from her hand and the bludgeoning weapon.

"This brings back memories, doesn't it? I think you used the same method to incapacitate me the last time we crossed paths. My flesh was torn inward and my bones shattered. I thought I was going to die then and there," Rana began to wrap her digits around the sheathe, pushing it back slowly back at Nel, paying no mind to her shaking arm straining to push back. Her smile diminished upon pushing the sheathe a solid foot back, her eyes glaring heatedly as she uttered with absolute loathing, "but you're too cruel to give me a quick death, aren't you?"

Without retorting, Nelliel swung her free hand up, encasing it within a halo of pink-white Reishi. To her chagrin the palm-heeling Bala missed its mark, Rana leaning her head swiftly to the right, causing her hair to flourish wildly as it soared upwards in an arc of bright light. Before the hand could be withdrawn her wrist was captured by Rana's own free hand, locking it into a tight vice grip.

"What's the matter?" Rana asked coyly, her smile thin and her eyes flashing with sadism. Launching her knee forward, a satisfying clap of cartilage meeting her abdomen was heard. Seeing Nelliel gasp aloud, eyes shrinking with apparent pain, caused the Privaron to chuckle, "you're not fucking with me, are ya? Huh?!"

Punctuating her last query, Rana rammed her forehead against Nel's. An audible explosion of air and the sound of Hierro clashing with Hierro, buckling the sandy earth underneath their soles respectively. The following connection of skull ramming skull sent Nelliel's person rocking back, tumbling head over heels. Her frame soared past both Lilynette and Ichigo, crashing onto her backside with a five meter drag across the grained ground.

"_Is this for real?! Nel is being overpowered?!_" Ichigo thought with horror etched onto his features.

With scabbard still in hand, Nelliel tried to rise, finding herself flipping up into a crouch. Eyes widened upon finding herself knee bent before Rana's shadow, looking at her from her left flank. Even as her silver eyes looked up at the burning left iris, she'd fail to properly block a spinning kick to her left cheek. The kickback was enough to send a deafening pop in the air, distending the earth and sending Nelliel flying back in a pinwheeling fashion.

Tried as she might, she couldn't halt her momentum, leading her to be be kicked in the face by a instantaneously arriving Rana. A pained gasp escaped her face as blood spewed from her split lips, her body rising in a pendulum fashion, halting only when her left ankle was grasped by a gloved right hand of the Privaron's. Maddening glee crossed Rana's visage when she hurtled Nelliel into the desert bed with unforgiving strength, creating a plume of upheaving sand in the wake of the bludgeoning feminine frame.

"That...bitch!" Ichigo turned his head, seeing Lilynette's person practically bathed in anger. Rivulets of blue Reishi danced along her lithe body, her pink eye tearing up as it turned towards Rana's person. Her fingers dug tightly into her palms, fists cracking under the stress she was placing them under. "I'll kill her!"

Something clicked in the strawberry tressed man's mind. Why was he, the stronger one, paralyzed with fear while the little girl was barely holding herself back? The woman who risked her life to save him, when he had done so many times over, was now in jeopardy by a new foe. One that he knew shouldn't be allowed to have her way, no matter the history she has with her.

"_Nel just regained her true form. I bet that fight with Nnoitra took a lot more out of her than she'd admit,_" Ichigo thought as his eyes glared at Rana's form, now throwing punches into a staggering Nelliel, "_this Arrancar is strong. She might be as strong as Nel. She can't handle someone of that caliber right now!_"

Eyeing at the other spectating Arrancars, he noted that they didn't seem eager to join...yet. He knew it had something to do with the fact that it was Nel facing Rana. But what kept them from swarming? Seeing his partially buried sword only a handful of meters away, Ichigo balled his fists with readiness. Turning his head back, he saw Nelliel skirt back from the most recent roundhouse kick landed by Rana's booted heel. Seeing Nelliel's heaving frame, covered in many visible bruises and cuts, gripping her hand over her unsheathed weapon he knew that she wouldn't last much longer.

"Why aren't ya drawin' your sword?" Rana asked with a frown, lowering her leg back to the ground, standing perpendicularly aligned to battered Nel.

"I've already taken a life today. I rather not take another," Nelliel said stoically in between gasps of air. As an addendum, she also remarked with a cold glare at Rana's own irate face, "besides, I have no intention of staining my sword on a traitor!"

A pair of veins protruded from Rana's forehead at hearing that jab. Her face quickly twisted into a look of livid fury, teeth spread wide to emblazon her anger. Armored digits wrapped around her cutlass' hilt, grinding the blade out of the bone engraved scabbard matching the alabaster hued surface of her angular sword guard. When finally unsheathed, her eyes shined a menacing crimson light that reflected off her vertically aligned blade.

"From the way I see it, _you're_ the traitor here," Rana said icily, crouching down, just short of springing forth with incredible momentum. Raising the blade over her head, she swung it down as she synchronized her attack with her words, "and I have no problem cutting the likes of you down!"

"Like Hell you wi-!" Lilynette began to say, before her frame was sent soaring back in what she felt like was a over-the-head toss. Her body comedically collided with Orihime, whom had remained petrifyingly silent upon Rana's arrival, sending them into a heap on the sand. While her eyes spun momentarily at the impact her head had with the orange-haired girl's, she'd note from her awkward position a black silhouette of motion. It seemed like a wraith as it rushed in between Rana and a defending Nel, his frame shimmering into view from the incredible speed he displayed. "-huh?!"

Rana found herself stopped dead in her tracks as her sword was halted by a midnight colored blade. Held up by a single arm effortlessly to meet her downward stroke, the blistering wave of pressure caused his dark cloak to flourish in sync with his colorful tresses upon his scalp. Hazel eyes glared at her as he kept a defensive posture against her aggressive one, but looked anything but pacifistic.

"Sorry, but I have no intention in you having your way," Ichigo said in a level tone, his free hand gesturing in a splayed fashion towards Rana. Before she could comprehend the significance of the movement, a sudden concussive blast followed by a bright azure light of Reiatsu flowed outwards from his palm. It was enough to send her staggering back a good six meters, putting a healthy amount of distance between herself and the sand parted Shinigami.

"_He stopped my blade and sent me back with nothing but a discharge of Reiatsu?!_" Rana thought with a few blinks of confusion. After processing the revelation along with the brief debriefing she had of the Shinigami she was to look out for, her composure returned along with her confidence. "_If this is _the_ Shinigami, I can see why everyone is so worked up over him. He's definitely a dangerous one._"

Seeing his enemy become quieter, Ichigo turned his head towards to his school friend, "Orihime."

"Y-Yes?" She asked, still rubbing her head as Lilynette stood shakily to her feet.

"Please use Shun Shun Rikka to shield the girl and yourself. Our fight is about to get serious," Ichigo declared stoically, his eyes already returning towards Rana's.

"O-Okay," Orihime nodded, very aware of how useless she'd be if she were caught up in this battle. Even the spitfire standing next to her, wearing an irritated face, seemed to understand that she was not a asset to their fight. Wordlessly, she cupped her hands in front of herself as her hairpins glowed and flew outwards, quickly forming a golden dome of repelling light. Raising her eyes towards Nel and Ichigo, she whispered with hope, "please be safe..."

* * *

"**_So, our enemy is Lady Tres and the Shinigami intruder?_**" Sin asked dubiously, taking long strides to be beside Rana.

"Seems that way," Rana said with a sigh, standing upright, sheathing her blade swiftly, "if what Gin has told me is true, she has been replaced by another after disappearing some time ago. Presumed dead, but now I'm going to ensure she's dead along with her Shinigami cohort."

"**_And yet, you seem calm about this,_**" Sin analyzed, blinking at her from above, "**_are you not planning on involving yourself in their demise?_**"

"I don't fight an enemy I have no clue about how they fight. The only time I've done so I paid the price. Let the Vanguard deal with them," Rana nodded to Sin, a wry grin spreading across her face, "unless you have a problem how I use my subordinates?"

"**_I have no attachment to any of my prisoners. The only thing that concerns me is if the mission goes uncompleted and I'm left to clean up after you. Reporting back to Commander Ichimaru about your failure would be shameful, seeing this is a priority from Lord Aizen himself,_**" Sin rationalized.

"Then we're in agreement," Rana said with a nod, turning her head to look at the many gathered ranks of the Vanguard. Seeing that they all knew better than to attack without command or go against her wishes, she smiled with contentment. Raising her left hand up in the air, she swept it at her enemy's direction, declaring aloud, "listen up! Those two are your targets. Keep the other two alive. Aizen has need of the human."

A chorus of eager shouts followed by rambunctious laughter sounded over the mass of Vanguard soldiers. Their forms slowly approached, rising up and skidding down the formations of sand in their way. Each of them ranging from size and shape all held menacing statures and weapons. Even those that did not permeated a unnerving state of being that made them more fearsome.

"How are you holding up?" Ichigo asked over his shoulder, raising his blade at an upwards angle in preparation for the battle to come.

"I may have taken a beating, but it's nothing I can't recover from," Nelliel said with assurance.

"You sure?" Ichigo began to ask, turning his eyes to fully look her over. What he saw made him rethink of what he should say. Nelliel's whole body shined in a layer of translucent liquid, oozing from her very pores. As it did so the signs of her injuries, from bruises to cuts, began to shrink until they vanished entirely. "you're...healing?"

"In my normal form, I can sweat out the liquid over my body and have my cells absorb it to heal the damage. While it isn't Instantaneous Regeneration, I can heal damaged organs that'd normally out of reach of such a power," Nelliel explained with a matter-of-fact tone. Standing more upright, her Reiatsu began to light across her being, flowing upwards like vapor. Looking at her left hand, she gripped it experimentally before looking to Ichigo, "you're right about me, Ichigo. I've lost a quarter of my Reiryoku fighting Nnoitra. I'm not at full power, and yet Rana was never able to resist me even in less of my current state. Something's not right about these Arrancars. Be careful."

"Not sure if that's possible, but I'll keep an eye out," The Substitute affirmed with a smile.

"Take 'em down!" Crowed an Arrancar, sporting a dazzling head of hair stylized into a purple mohawk. Ditching the cloak upon rushing forth in a burst of Sonido, wielding in his right hand a Macuahuitl. The intricately tattooed and torso hole adorned body rushed forth with a manic look in his eyes as he swung his club-blade at the head-turned Shinigami.

Raising his blade, Ichigo easily parried the sideways stroke of the uniquely designed weapon, sending it awry in an opposing direction. A devastating snap kick was launched by the black wreathed Substitute, planting straight into the Shinigamified Hollow's chin to snap his head back with a painful pop. Following up, Ichigo propelled his bare-chested body with a roundhouse kick to his abdomen, sending him corkscrewing backwards in a explosive expulsion of air pressure.

"HAAAA!" Another enemy roared from above, wielding an intricate lance. Long flowing golden hair trailed back from his voodoo skull masked head. Colorful robes flowed over his arms and shoulders, matching the feathered skirt flourishing his invert directioned legs. With both arms drawn back, he intended to impale the Shinigami at the last second as his leg began to retract from the kick.

What he didn't count on was Nel's form gracefully grasping her right hand onto Ichigo's right shoulder. Pivoting her lower body upwards while holding her sheathed weapon to the side, Nelliel bent her knees just underneath the rapidly descending Arrancar. Just before reaching their proximity, she launched her legs up, double kicking him straight into the face. The resulting shockwave deafened the painful snaps and cracks his skull received, shattering his mask easily as his person rocketed upwards in a elliptical rush of kinetic power.

An additional pair of burly Arrancars launched their own attacks, appearing from behind and in front. The one in front resembled a Rhino, with a single horn jutting in the middle of his head while a slit covered his eyes, the rest of his body robed in long white flowing robes. Swinging his spiked mallet forward, he intended on taking both the hand standing Nel's upper body and Ichigo's own upright upper person. The one from behind, a Bull-masked Arrancar, converged with his own attack. Using a pair of black-hued scimitars to behead and disarm them from their rear flank.

Only a single exchange of glances were had between the two comrade-in-arms before they realized what needed to be done. Closing her eyes, Nelliel exhaled, relaxing her grip on Ichigo immediately. At the same time, Ichigo juggled his sword to his left hand, allowing his free hand to reach up and grasp Nel's forearm.

"DIE!" The two Arrancars shouted, their weapons clanging violently with each other as they reached their targeted destination. Powerful reverberations filled the air, faint tuffs of turquoise and orange hairs flourished upwards, but all around missed the two. With Ichigo squatting low to the point of almost kneeling, he swung Nel towards his right, with her legs pointed behind him and her eyes looking back, as her emerald clothed bosom faced upwards. It was a narrow miss, but their timing coupled with Ichigo's speed helped evade perfectly.

Turning around on his heels, Ichigo began to turn to his left, brandishing his weapon as he propelled Nel in a blurring arc of emerald and cyan. Turning about in midair, Nelliel swung her legs around to strike Rhino Arrancar across his face, causing his neck to snap out of socket with a painfully audible pop. As he began to turn in with the force of the kick, his large feet lifting up and off the ground, Ichigo's black sword struck across the unguarded torso of the Bull-Arrancar. The sword easily cut through his Hierro, ripping apart flesh and grinding through organs before exiting with a horizontal arc. Blood geysered from his chest, arching over Ichigo's head, as he fell to his back with a blank look in his eyes looking still and inert.

The moment she dropped to the sandy floor, she took in the sight of three more Arrancars of various shapes speeding towards their direction. Still in a forearm lock with her Strawberry friend, Nelliel shouted as she pulled on him with sufficient force to lift him into the air, "Ichigo! Ahead of me!"

"I got it!" Ichigo retorted in a shout of his own, his body already alight with a burgundy outlined black aura. The moment she turned him fully around, his body speared forward, accelerated by Nel's arm strength combined with his own extraordinary speed. Encased in an infernal blaze of dark Reiatsu, Ichigo thrust his sword in the vicinity of his enemies, barreling through. If anyone saw him, it'd appear as if he had become a bodily clad Getsuga Tenshō, expanding out in a horizontal fashion that cut a swathe through the desert for a good twenty meters.

The sounds of surprised cries were heard as the motley group of Arrancars were caught within the wake of the expansive wave of Reishi. Their bodies were cut or burned away, easily shredding parts from the main segmentation, sending their remains awry across the battlefield. In an instant a number would lie dead and twitching as the wave of force passed by them entirely, crashing through a rising hillside of grained earth.

Landing with a grinding halt, the black-red Reishi petered away, revealing his dark garbed Shikhakushō'd being standing tall. Turning around, he saw Nelliel fending off a number of Arrancar attackers of her own. Pistoning her legs around like a windmill, she knocked back two of them before cartwheeling away from a bludgeoning strike from another bulbous shaped enemy. Swinging her scabbard around, she rammed the sheath's blunt edge into the face of another oncoming attacker before swinging around the emerald container to rapidly beat into the bulbous ape shaped Arrancar.

"_She's not drawing her sword?_" Ichigo thought with utter surprise. The realization that Nelliel was leaving her enemies incapacitated rather than killed, especially in this circumstance, was something he hadn't expected. Was she hesitant about facing her own kin, or was it guilt of slaying Nnoitra?

Ichigo's gaze drew upward as Nel continued to brawl, another enemy prepared to attack from above. Stationary the Hawk-masked Arrancar pointed his hands down at her, resembling the shape of guns. Between the space of the fingers began to gleam a sapphire light, humming and charging with a large amount of condensed Reishi particles within its epicenter.

Just a moment before it reached priming the hands were detached in a black arcing motion, falling to the sandy earth currently the battlefield of his designated target. As the Cero sizzled out of existence, the Shinigamified Hollow's face contorted in pain and alarm seeing his stumps spew out viscous liquid from where there use to be hands. The sight of the dark wreathed Shinigami brought fear and imminent demise, causing his human features to pale with horror.

Any sound that would tear out of his throat was halted by a impaling motion into his chest. Wordlessly the orange-haired man scowled at his enemy as he gasped for breath, only to find blood coughing up his throat. With a wet pulling motion, Ichigo released the sword's hold on his enemy's body, causing the gurgling entity to limply fall to the ground below.

When the body parts fell wetly one after another to the ground, Nelliel halted her actions to stare at the remains. A brief mournful light crossed her eyes, shut out by clenched eyelids. Looking up, she stared up at the more passive Ichigo, who simply kept his guard up and kept his gaze upon her at the earth below.

That was, until Ichigo's body fell to the earth in a violent split second.

"Ichigo!" Nelliel shouted with alarm, as titanic wave of sand erupted from where his dark garbed being struck. The wall of dark earthen grains moved forth with enough momentum to cause all proximate Arrancars to rush away to safety. That was, except Nel, whom simply raised her sword over her head. With a stoic glare, she released a pink-hued fissure of Reishi escape the path of her blade, cutting away the sand and sending either half flying past her harmlessly.

On the other side, she saw Ichigo. Rising up from his knees, the strawberry scratched his head with annoyance, groaning as stood back up to his feet. When he saw Nel halt in front of him, a sigh escaped her lips as she smiled softly.

"You alright?" Nel asked in a low tone.

"Yeah, just felt like I was hit by a train. Good thing I'm a Shinigami, right?" Ichigo quipped with a chuckle, hissing in pain, as a trickle of blood flowed down his brow to his cheek.

"_What was he struck with? Even I couldn't see what attacked him and he described it as a physical force. What did this to him?_" Nelliel asked herself as she sweated the viscous healing liquid from her palm, rubbing it over his scalp much to his chagrin.

"You'd think they'd still be attacking," Ichigo grumbled out, wincing at the pain that receded in combination of the soft moist touch by the beautiful Arrancar.

"I think we proved to them they can't simply use numbers or rush tactics. The thing that attacked you has given them pause," Nelliel explained, feeling the wound over Ichigo's head begin to recede.

"Who you calling a thing?!" A high-pitched, childish tone cried out from beside them. With both pairs of eyes wide and heads turned, they were finally able to see their attacker. The first figure, one of which the talker was sitting upon, was a large Arrancar. A large armored segmentation wrapped around his upper back and shoulders, forcing him to hunch his seven foot stature down, glaring forward like a beast. Large sharp teeth spread from his box-shaped jaw, with beady dark eyes sinisterly staring at those in front of him. Arms behemoth in size clawed at the ground, with digits easily twice as thick as Ichigo's arm clenching with an unnerving intensity. A brutish dark hued sheathe for a double-edged bastard sword lied over his right shoulder over his back, revealing to be his weapon of choice.

The second figure appeared to be the source of the attacks, and one they didn't expect. With a pair of comically small skull shaped ribbons tying her blonde hair up into pigtails, a cute fair complexioned face with pouted lips, her blue eyes glaring with disapproval at her enemies. A dark grey tube top covering her lithe person retained a circular fur laced collar and skirt trim that ended at her upper thighs. Arm warmers of a similar color to her top wrapped up from her elbow to her palm, leaving her palm and fingers exposed but covered the back of her hand. Childish angel wings sprouted from her back and a pair of crossbones emblazoned where her hips were located. Thigh high socks leading up from a pair of dance shoes kicked idly from the larger being's shoulder, heels tapping his left white robed pectoral. A bandoleer wrapped over her left shoulder down the right side of her shirt revealed a ruby scabbard, holding what can be assumed her Zanpakutō.

"As much as I don't want to believe it, I think that's our perpetrator," Nelliel whispered quietly to Ichigo, taking a prepared defensive stance.

"Great, another annoying one," Ichigo murmured as he stood tall, lowering his sword to his side, keeping his grip tightened, "I don't like how she's got that big guy by her. She might be planning something with him."

"Let's assume her attack was to get our attention rather than cause damage," Nel responded matter-of-factly.

"HEY!" The Arrancar girl shouted at them, causing both of their beings to tense. Thumbing towards her flat chest, she snarled as she pointed at them insistantly, "stop acting like I'm not talking to you!"

"Why bother with them, Angelle?" Rumbled forth the brutish shaped Arrancar whose shoulder she sat upon. Earning a downward glance, he looked up with a demented grin of his own, complementing the dark gleam in his eyes, "you already said your hello. Let's crush them!"

"Hee!~" Angelle spread her pearly whites across with a dark smile of her own. Looking up at the two, she rested her hand upon her lap, her body rising weightlessly into the air off her comrade. Crossing her legs, she assumed a form of squatting posture ten meters above the hulkish Arrancar's head. A shining glint in her eyes shimmered just before she shouted to him, "let 'em have it, Duro!"

Duro chuckled darkly as his massive left hand reached up and grasped the sword hilt jutting up from his back. Unhinging it from its lock, he'd briefly utter out, "**Spin**," and swing it forward with a roar, "**Madriguera!**"

During the brandishing of his weapon, the metal would expand and turn into a fiery maelstrom of energy, enveloping him into a twister of force. Rotation circulated underneath Angelle's form, bristling her clothes and hair fiercely, while producing a powerful gust of wind that forced the duo of defenders to raise their arms instinctively. Such a bright light and concentration of Reiatsu was enough to recognize the Vanguard Arrancar as competent at the very least.

When revealed, they'd see any remnants of a humanoid form had diminished. Now standing at a eight and a half foot height, Duro's previous white plating had turned into multiple segments that covered nearly all of his body. Expansive in mass, the plates had an organic appearance to them, stretching all the way to claw shaped arms and feet, additionally covering a rodent-shaped tail wiggling at the bottom of his upright person. His jaunt changed from a brute to a rodent's, with an elongated snout and mask fragments covering his head and jaw, only giving slits for his eyes to look out of and his white teeth sticking out in a sharp manner.

"Let's have some fun, shall we?" Angelle cooed out from above, extending her hands out as if they were about to conduct a symphony.

"Here they come!" Nelliel announced, raising her hand and sheathed weapon.

Grinning, Duro took one slow step forward after another. Gripping his talons in upon his scaly palms, his body lumbered forward at a sluggish rate. This seemed intentional when his body knelt and rolled up into a scaled, segmented armored sphere. A blaze of crimson light jettisoned around his being, causing the armored body to rotate forward and then violently spin, forcing it to move at a unprecedented velocity towards the two of them.

"**Molienda Colina!**" He cried out as his being soared through the air, carving the desert floor beneath him as his rampage made its way to their midst.

In an instant, both fighters leaped to either side, narrowly avoiding the spinning mass of armored plating and Reiatsu. To their surprise Duro's spinning form didn't race off into the horizon but leaped up into the air and reversed directions. Ramming down in between them, a massive expulsion of Reiatsu, sending them both skidding backwards a considerable distance.

"Dammit, he's a lot more agile than I gave him credit for!" Ichigo swore aloud, eyeing the dust filled crater Duro created. Watching the spinning behemoth rise upwards in his direction, he heard the high pitch whistle of his form grinding upon the earth just before rushing him. Spinning to his left, Ichigo's perspective of the world slowed to mere moments as the revolving being continued to trek mere centimeters above the distending sands. Placing a well-timed spin kick to the being's side, a loud pop was heard as momentum shifted and the creature's direction tumbled a good dozen meters in the direction he struck it.

When he landed, his foot throbbed from the impact, causing him to wince at placing pressure on it, "What the Hell is he made of?! I barely sent him flying and I don't see a mark on him!"

"You're a fool, Shinigami!" Duro roared out with laughter as he righted himself up, briefly unfurling his being from his spherical posture, "my body's hide is some of the thickest Hierro you can imagine. Simply hitting me with a physical attack will have little effect on me. If anything that only caused me a slight bout of dizziness."

A sudden whoosh caused Duro's eyes to blink, seeing Nel's form crouched low and leaning down on three of all fours. With her thumb pressed against the guard of her sword, a brief click was heard, signaling the sound of her sword being unlocked from its scabbard. The faint glow from her silver eyes caused Duro to widen his gaze down at her with apprehension. With a sudden shift of swift motion, her sword came flying out in her right hand's grip, swinging forth to strike the lumbering opponent in front of her.

But instead of finding its mark, Duro somehow managed to skirt back in a numbingly fast rush. Not Sonido, but simply a swift lurch back away from the path of her sword. This caused Nelliel's eyes to widen with shock, as this left her wide open for the now spherically bodied Arrancar's attack. Hit by the being with enough rotation to cause her mouth to gasp out in pain, her body drilled backwards along the path of the enemy's aim, sending her skidding bouncing back across the desert ground.

It was when she found that upon gripping the sand that she felt an unseen hand grip her by the legs that she felt herself flail uncontrollably.

"_What's going on?! Why can't I get free?!_" Nel thought with alarm as she rose upward, her body gripped and spread out in a spread eagled posture in the middle of the air. With a wide look of horror on her eyes she saw Duro launch himself off the ground and spin insanely fast at her. With no way to evade, Duro drew closer until she was feeling the rotation's vibrations upon her skin.

That was, until Ichigo appeared above Duro's spinning form.

"HA!" Ichigo shouted with exertion, swinging his blade down with all of his might to hit the spinning balled up Arrancar. A shower of sparks followed by a thunderous discharge of ruptured wind sent the spinning Arrancar downwards to impact the sandy earth heavily. Waves of sand flowed across the battlefield below, and the lack of a rebounding enemy allowed a moment of relief to wash over the Substitute.

Looking over at Nelliel, he saw that the mysterious force holding over Nelliel had yet to be released. Narrowing his eyes, he slowly turned his head over his shoulder, seeing the cross-legged form of Angelle still keeping her hands up. Subtly they moved to and fro, mimicking the sign of a puppeteer. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nel move at odd angles and grimace with discomfort.

"_Looks like the only way to free her is to get of that one,_" He resolved with a flex over his sword hand.

In a split second, the Substitute Shinigami kicked off the air, rushing towards Angelle. Like a wraith his being reached her within the span of eye blinks, his sword arm drawn back and his weaponless hand reaching out to grasp her. When he reached nothing but air as she bent her body back, his sword swung downwards, aiming to cut her down to deny her retreat.

The last thing he expected was Nelliel's person blur in front of his eyes, raising a blade up to absorb the force of his attack with a loud metallic clang. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped, realizing that the force Angelle put upon her was doing more than restraining her body. It was controlling it!

"I-Ichigo!" Nelliel choked out, her eyes dilated and her mouth trembling. She found herself completely unable to resist the force that entwined her arm, forcing it to push back against Ichigo's own blade.

"You bitch!" Ichigo snarled at Angelle, whom smiled with a sadistic grin from behind Nel's backside, "let her go!"

"Should you really be worrying about her?" Came a nasally low voice from behind.

Ichigo's own pupils shrank with horror, followed by a pain-filled choking noise that was drowned out by a bright yellow detonation of Reiatsu. A defined cut, steaming with searing heat, slashed over his back, one that caused him to stumble forward. In that time he saw Nel drag his sword away from its lock and unintentionally glomp into him, dragging him down into the desert floor below. With the force of a bullet train, they both dragged across the grained earth, disheveling and carving through its uneven recesses.

Seeing them both in a sandy ditch in the distance, Angelle clucked her tongue with satisfaction. Her eyes slid to the side at the one responsible for weakening Ichigo enough for her to get the drop on them. With faint recognition, Angelle sighed with annoyance, "What are you doing, meddling in someone else's fight?"

"I saw an opening and took it," Patros responded matter-of-factly, a thin smile gracing his moustached lips, "do you disapprove?"

"I could have taken him if Duro didn't take his sweet ass time," Angelle growled, looking downwards at the pit her partner was embedded. When she saw his form finally lumber out, she sighed and yelled down, "what's the deal?! I thought from the way you stayed down there you died!"

In a burst of Sonido, Duro appeared by her left flank, an embarrassed look crossing his rodent shaped face, "Sorry, Angelle. That Shinigami bastard's hit knocked me out for a second. My head still feels like a ton of bricks rattled my brain..."

"He _is_ becoming a bit of a problem," Angelle huffed, crossing her arms over her chest, briefly knitting her eyes shut. As her pensive look dragged on for a few seconds, her eyes opened with an epiphanic expression. Fist palming, Angelle said aloud with a giggle, "that's it!"

"Uh-oh," Duro murmured, his face covered with nervous sweat.

Clasping her hands together in a semblance of a prayer, Angelle's visage became ecstatic.

"Don't worry," She whispered as a bright pink light grew around the clasped palms, expanding and swirling between the cracks of her fingers. A high pitched whistle was heard during the slow separation of palms, revealing a thumb-sized sphere of Reishi. The light created a dark silhouette across the child-like Arrancar, her grinning visage looking more like a demon's than that of a little girl's, "I'll blow them away in a single shot!"

"Shit!" Duro swore aloud, quickly backing up to get behind Angelle rather than beside her. With Patros seeing the reaction, he too quickly moved beside where the larger Arrancar moved. As the other members of the Vanguard looked up, they could only guess what kind of attack was about to be unleashed.

"EVERYONE!" Rana's voice shouted aloud, distantly standing atop one of the dunes of sand away from the fighting. When all eyes drew upon her, she insistently pointed towards Angelle's direction, "move if you don't want to die!"

In a clamber of movement, Sonidos and mad dashes were made across the desert grounds. Such a large amount of chaos was made that dust swirled around, making visibility poor in the immediate area of Angelle's aim. Though it didn't matter, as the trench of her prior attack carved a long enough targeting reticle for her to use her technique.

"**Bala Mente!**" Angelle cried out as her arms pushed forward, clasping them and her wrists together, with open palms facing the direction of her attack. When she gestured, the compact projectile of condensed Reishi screamed across the air, moving down at an angle. It left distortive waves of heated air in its wake, forcefully uprooting dozens of meters of sand as it moved slowly after the attack's path. When it finally found its mark, an explosion of immense proportions was had, followed by a roaring wave of blistering wind carrying the flames all around where the Arrancars had once stood. Howling winds cascaded up in the air, flowing around instead of touching Angelle's person, creating only a gentle breeze on her body. As the flames began to die down and the fog of war dimmed, she saw a crater easily the size of a football field in front of her, distended to a dark chasmic depth, broiling with heat and crackling with Reishi tendrils.

"T-That was a Bala?!" Padros asked incredulously, his scalp beading sweat as he recoiled at seeing the scale of the attack.

"Angelle's Reishi and Reiatsu is manipulated by her mind," Duro explained with a nervous grin of his own, breathing out with relief he hadn't been dragged into it, "you could say that Aizen saw potential in her ability to be one of the only Arrancars with Psionic powers upon birth. However, upon tampering with her mind, they kind of unhinged her if you know what I mean."

"I...see," Padros said slowly, looking at Angelle's manically grinning face with a look of disgust, "_it's no wonder she was incarcerated. Her power is vast but her mind is fragile like glass. Anything can shatter it and it seems she holds no real qualms with killing her comrades. I best be careful when around her..._"

The sound of a disbelieving gasp brought the two to reality. Angelle's brow sprouted an angry vein, her eyes scowling with frustration. Her grin immediately turned into a feral snarl, complemented by her words, "No way! They're still alive?!"

* * *

Ichigo thought it was over.

One moment he had been kicking ass with Nel, truly holding his own against the Vanguard. They didn't seem like trouble to him, but he was proven wrong when the kid and the beast showed up. The pair outmatched them, being perfectly able to outmaneuver and hit them when they were most vulnerable. When Nelliel was propped up like a puppet, he had froze up, unknowing what to do to save her when she was used as a tool by the enemy. When he received a surprise attack via Reishi discharge, he felt a white hot pain crawl up his backside. It was enough to allow the enemy to send him and Nel crashing into the sand, dragging painfully across its wasteland.

When the sound and appearance of the Reishi bullet made its way, the only comforting thing he took in was that Nelliel was with him to the end. Flipping her around in one last ditch effort to protect her, he put his injured back towards the direction of the attack, hoping that he'd at least dampen the force with his own body. It'd be the least he could do at the end.

But when the explosion happened, it sounded muted. As if it hadn't reached him all the way. Blinking a few times, Ichigo shakily looked over his shoulders, surprised to find a smoke curdling silhouette standing next to a tall wall of transparent energy. It was webbed all over, shattered at a indented point, as if something was repelled despite cracking its structure. When the figure came into complete focus, he saw another drop next to him, causing him to blink rapidly.

"It appears we reached you in time," Byakuya said stoically, not bothering to look at Ichigo as he faced the wall of dissipating Bakudo energy, "Ichigo Kurosaki."

"B-Byakuya!" Ichigo cried out with surprise.

"To think," Another voice said from beside Ichigo's left flank, looking down at him with a disapproving scowl, "the man who caught me off guard and two other Lieutenants, not to mention fought evenly with Captain Kuchiki is in such a state. What a sorrowful appearance you have donned, Mr. Kurosaki."

"H-Hey," Ichigo began to quip, raising a hand to point at him with a confused blink, "do I...know you?"

"Chōjirō Tadaoki Sasakibe, Lieutenant of the First Division," Chōjirō introduced himself, bowing halfway to the sprawled Substitute, "it is good to make your acquaintance, though I'm sure we both wished to have been under better circumstances."

Upon saying this, the Lieutenant gestured to Ichigo's seemingly provocative posture over Nelliel. Blinking a few times, Ichigo looked back and forth from Nel's blank curious visage to Chōjirō's irritated scowl. With a bright blush flaring over his cheeks, Ichigo flipped himself off of Nel's person and scrambled to his feet, "T-T-This isn't what it looks like-!"

"I'm not blind, Kurosaki, I can see you're infatuated with her," Lieutenant Sasakibe retorted, his gaze drawing away from the two of them.

"Wait, you like me?" Nelliel blinked innocently up at Ichigo, tapping her chin with her own finger.

"No! I mean yes! Gah!" Ichigo began pulling at his hair, eyes scrunching up at being prodded by the squatting female. When he felt her touch on his back, he yelped and turned around to see her moist hand running across his back's cut. Before he could say anything, he saw Nelliel's expression soften, smiling contentedly.

"Good," Nel whispered softly, finishing sealing his wound as she had done to herself seconds earlier, "that makes me happy."

"Uhhh-"

"Enough idle chatter," Byakuya said sternly, his eyes locking onto a group of figures approaching them, "the enemy has decided to take initiative."

As the Head of the Kuchiki Clan said this, a tandem of the Vanguard's forces manifested through Sonido. Standing afar was the livid Angelle Cooney, now hovering in the air in front of the wary Padros and Duro. But when she saw the pair of Shinigami standing beside her prey, her smile returned and her mood turned back to a playful if not menacing spirit. In her mind there was more than enough playthings to last her awhile instead of being done away in an instant.

But to her chagrin, Rana appeared at the forefront, flanked by Sin and her Privaron comrades tailing behind.

"My-My, if the Soul Society hasn't just sent a pair of Captains to save the outcast and the intruder. How touching," Rana drawled out in a sarcastic tone, hands propped against her hips in a haughty gesture, her smile sneering at Byakuya in particular.

"Do not mistake this intervention of ours as a rescue operation," Captain Kuchiki retorted smoothly, his eyes deadly cold as they locked onto Rana's, "we're here to eliminate the enemy. All opposition shall be crushed. Your forces will meet their end here, Arrancar."

Hearing this caused Rana to break out into an incredulous fit of laughter. Holding her gut her eyes almost welled up with tears, finally calming down after a solid minute of mock chuckles escaped her throat. Wiping them away, Rana asked in a bemusing tone, "Exactly what led you to believe the two of you can make a difference? Sure, the Shinigami in black and his newfound ally are formidable. They are no match for the Vanguard, let alone we Privaron Espada."

"All I hear is talk," Byakuya retorted back evenly, goading her with a smooth unsheathing motion of his sword. Raising it up to divide his face, he further enticed her with a low toned jab, "is that all your known for, woman?"

Clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth, Rana let out a nasty hiss escape her clenched teeth. Raising a hand, she gestured towards the Captain, calling out to her subordinates, "Take this guy down! His worth as amusement has run out."

In such an instant, four Arrancars of various sizes and shapes rushed forth with a kicking motion across the sand. One was the fighter who attacked Ichigo in the first place, wielding his weapon around with a dark burgundy current to it. Next to him was a jackal-masked Arrancar with a serrated blade in hand, while another pair wielded bludgeoning weapons in hand.

"**Scatter,**" Byakuya murmured, in sync with the dissipating petals that became his Shikai, flourishing out in a blanketing movement as if they became the wind, "**Senbonzakura!**"

Sweeping out, the blossom blades rushed out at unprecedented speeds, easily taking the charging four off guard. Lacerations appeared in a matter of seconds, covering their bodies in cuts and causing them to howl or grimace with pain. But even still, it appeared that the scenic method of attack did little more than slow them down, causing them to shake off their wounds before flexing their Reiatsu and mustering up for another charge.

"HA! You think you can take us down with such a weak attack?!" The Aztec stylized Arrancar asked mockingly, as he leaped up into the air with the rest, intending on cutting him down with his comrades on all sides.

"**Pierce,**" A monotone voice graveled out, resulting in quick drawing his katana as it transformed into a elegant English-styled rapier. Gesturing towards their midst, a string of violet tendrils of electricity stretched out, connecting to the thousand blades that had remained unseen by the rampaging Arrancars; including those embedded into the shallow wounds of their flesh, "**Gonryōmaru!**"

What followed was a visceral display of violet-hued electrocution, as a web of high voltage Reishi currents flourished around the mass of clearly visible petal razors. Suspended in the air, convulsing by the energy ripping apart their nervous systems and tearing through their flesh, the Arrancars died a grisly death in front of the ranks of the Vanguard. When their charred remains dropped inert around Byakuya and Chōjirō's stalwart frames, their silhouettes overcast by the still ebbing currents of purple Reishi dancing from the pink-hued blossoms.

"Was that _amusing_ enough for you, Arrancar?" Byakuya asked in a curt tone.

Sooner than anyone would think, Rana's tolerance of her enemies had drawn to a close. Her being began to glow a vibrant scarlet hue, emanating a damning Reiatsu, shaking the ground and crackling the air with its power. Buckling winds whipped at Byakuya and Chōjirō's bodies, causing their hair and uniform to bristle visibly. Tendrils crawled across the sandy floor as the power rose considerably, buckling the ground and distending around Rana's feet.

"Talking is clearly a waste of time," Rana announced, grasping the hilt of her cutlass with her right hand. With a purposefully slow stroke, her sword became unhinged from its scabbard, rising over her head as her red tresses danced in the air behind her. Her body completely alight with her own power, her red eyes glowed brightly with vehemence at her foes as she finished, "it's time I give you the old fashioned Hueco Mundo welcome!"

It was here that a cacophony of ungodly howls shook the sandy bed of Las Noches. To many of the observers dunes rose and sunk rapidly, spewing up spirals of Reiatsu of a foul form. Something moved deep beneath them, rising and moving in great numbers. It was something that caused even Nel's eyes to shrink with horror and her mouth to drop with realization.

"She's...calling upon them?!" Nelliel thought aloud as her stance wobbled with effort.

"W-What do you mean them?!" Ichigo asked in alarmed confusion.

"The-!"

Whatever she was about to say was cut off as she saw long skeletal digits pierce upwards from the ground. While many of the Vanguard scattered and avoided the various bone digits, as large as trees, clenching at the sandy floor, a handful of them including the Privaron stood their ground.

Emerging first would be a haunting visage, colossal in scope, matching the large black body that rose up with it. Its pointed nose stretched out from its masked face, crimson eyes gleaming with no pupils, armed with rows of teeth that could consume the largest of Hollows. Pulling itself up till its large hole was exposed, the gargantuan Hollow loomed over them all, joined with it by what appeared to be thirteen more, forming a cage-like formation around the Ichigo and his allies.

"Menos Grande!" Ichigo called out, remembering their appearances vividly from his first haunting encounter. It had been awhile but he could never forget the beast that made all Hollows he faced bugs to it. The haunting face, the sneering eyes, and the rows of monstrous teeth. Truly it was an abomination among its own kindred, and now it came in mass.

"That's right, Shinigami!" Rana sneered aloud, earning Ichigo's gaze from behind Byakuya towards the confident Rana, "even if you, Nelliel and those two Captains are a formidable force, there is no way in Hell you can fight off fourteen Menos Grande all at once. Combined with my Vanguard, I will wipe your scum from the face of Las Noches!"

Ichigo felt understandably unnerved. With the Vanguard waiting in the shadows along with Rana, it would be impossible to simply avoid the towering giants. Plus, he knew that their Cero were substantial, even back then. If they all fired at once, there was no guarantee they could deflect such a wide barrage of attacks. Even if they'd survive, they'd be easy kills for the waiting Arrancars.

Grinding his teeth, he clenched his hands over his Zanpakutō's hilt, his body tense. Looking over at Nelliel he noticed she herself assumed a stoic if not clearly nervous appearance. With an exchange of glances they knew that fighting them all was an arduous task. Maybe if they all coordinated to attack at once, they could, but there was simply too many of them. How could they face such a force?

It was here that Byakuya didn't even ready himself to face the horde of enemies surrounding them. He stood there, as if confident they had nothing to fear. What was he thinking, Ichigo could only wonder?

The answer came with a sudden twister forming to their right. Shimmering figures seemed to emerge around the feet of a number of Menos Grande, with hands outstretched and pointing upwards. The violent vortex rose up and engulfed six immediate Menos, causing them to unintentionally crash into one another, unable to move within their sand cropped postures. At the base of the cyclone came into appearance four distinctly memorable Officers, having now appeared through a ribbon of sense distorting light fabric falling off of them.

Kiyone Kotetsu stood a dozen meters to her fellow 3rd Seat, Sentaro Kotsubaki. Both of them projected the Kidō -**Tenran**\- into the air, flowing forth to be caught by those around the Menos' large forms on their other flanks. Their bodies covered in desert cloaks, similar to the ones Rukia and Renji came adorned in, flapping violently in the backdraft of wind created by their own power.

Standing on the unseen flank was another pair of capable Lieutenants. Momo Hinamori, standing up with her own hands pulsing with aeroforce pressure, a good distance to the left of Nanao Ise. Both adorned their own cloaks, with looks of concentration etched upon their features, fueling the monolithic storm of spinning wind to grasp hold of the Menos. By the time the seventh Menos was ensnared by the large wind, all observers had to shield their eyes from the dust storm that ensued in their proximity, agape at seeing such a large twister form.

"Alright!" Nanao called out, her voice somehow audible through the fierce tower of wind, "it's time!"

The last of the appearing Gotei Officers stood Isane Kotetsu. Her sword, already in its Shikai state, held in front of her in a readied stance. With both hands on the hilt, she thrust the fork-edged weapon into the wall of wind, generating a indigo light from her being.

"Let'em have it, sis!" Kiyone shouted with a grimacing, yet encouraging smile of her own.

Itegumo in hand, Isane called out valorously above the howling wind swirling sand and debris around her head, "**Rinbōsō Kaze!**"

Seconds past as her indigo colored Reiatsu discharged her Reishi into the powerful swirling wind. The wind changed from a searing cloud of dust and sand to rapidly dropping temporal air currents. The Menos within began to roar with pain, finding their cloaked bodies freezing over and becoming brittle within the shredding gusts. The air pressure folding in on them broke apart their gigantic frames, freezing and shredding them all the same within the large twister. All at once the twister folded in on the targets, creating a icy implosion that obliterated the dark wreathed statuesque bodies.

Upon completing their attack, Sentaro hollered with victory, "YEAH! We showed them, didn't we?!"

"Whew," Kiyone wiped her brow, partially frosted over by being so close to the freezing twister that had formed by Isane's Zanpakutō, "it took all four of us to make a Kidō big enough to get just half of them. I don't think we can pull it off again-"

"Well, aren't you such a downer!" Sentaro pointed accusingly at Kiyone.

"Me?! I'm just being realistic, you ass!" Kiyone bit back, quickly pointing back at Sentaro from her posture.

"More like dampening my thunder of triumph!" Sentaro retorted.

"Why you-!"

"Quiet you two!" Nanao commanded, quickly appearing between the two through a bout of Shunpo. Her glass doting face looked back at each of them with a scowl, "do I need to inform your Captain of your improper behavior when we return?"

"No, ma'am," Both answered in bummed tones.

"Good," Nanao said with a sigh of relief. Donning an appreciative smile, she looked over at Momo and nodded her head to her, "thanks for keeping us hidden. If it hadn't been your Kyokkō spell, it would have been impossible to launch a surprise attack of this scale."

"I-It was nothing," Momo answered meekly, shying away from direct eye contact from her peer.

Looking over at Isane, she saw the Lieutenant sighed with her own exertion of using her Zanpakutō. She took time to admire the frost and vapors that ebbed from the weapon's tri-shaped edges. The marvelous Wind-Temporal Zanpakutō, carrying power to freeze and shred an enemy in a single attack, making it a very lethal weapon with a beautiful execution with every gesture.

"_If it hadn't been for her Zanpakutō __,__we wouldn't have been able to kill so many Menos in a single blow. As I thought, it was wise for us to maintain a Hadō while she was the one to imbue her power into the Kidō itself,_" Nanao noted with a nod.

"The Fuck did you all come from?!" A sudden shout brought Nanao's thoughts to a close, her eyes drawing forth towards the Arrancar leader in question. Surrounded by a host of her own colleagues, not to mention the remaining seven Menos, she looked quite the formidable fighter. She knew better than to bite her bait, so she chose to remain silent.

"Nothing to say?! Fine!" Rana swung her blade in their direction, a smile stretching across her face, "I'll kill you first!"

As the seven Menos turned their heads, sickening snaps were heard as their mouths opened, revealing bottomless maws behind their sharp rows of teeth. Astronomically sized Ceros began to prime between all of their mouths, charging them up to full power. The overcast of crimson shined across the valley, creating a damning gleam to overcome all those present.

Said color hues changed drastically when seven pillars of white light rocketed downwards, enclosing over the heads of the titan sized Hollows. With their Ceros dissipated and their heads now frozen solid in a pyre of ice, Rana looked up with disbelief. Two figures rushed down from the sky, and one of them attacked the immobile humongous entities. This one she could almost say resembled a Hollow by Reiatsu alone!

"**El Directo!**" Calavera Sado shouted in a warrior's cry, his shield-shaped fist thrusting a pyre of enormous destructive energy through the Menos Grande. Easily shattering the brittle, frozen skull, it followed through and continued to smash through the Menos like a stack of dominoes. With all of their heads decapitated, the large Hollows fell over limply, just as Calavera Aaroniero landed deftly among Ichigo's midst.

"Chad! Rukia!" Ichigo said aloud with surprise and utter relief. Without his knowing, a smile of welcoming embraced his features, clearly having missed the company of faces so familiar.

While Sado simply gave him a thumb's up, Aaroniero's Calavera sighed and gave a rueful smile, "Honestly, you look hopeless without us. Can you go anywhere without getting into trouble?"

"Guess it's part of my charm," Ichigo responded cheekily.

"Cute," Aaroniero rolled her eyes around, resting her Sode no Shirayuki on her right shoulder. Looking over at Byakuya, having spared a glance at her in his traditional stoic stare, she gave a heartfelt smile in his direction, "so good to see you again, brother."

"Hmph," Byakuya huffed with forced indifference, turning his face to look away from her, "it is by mere coincidence that I am here to fulfill a mission. I didn't come to rescue anyone."

"I never said any of that," Aaroniero said with a playful prod, causing Byakuya to bead a single bullet of sweat. When she heard him sigh, she crossed her arms over her chest as she grinned at him, "don't worry, I won't tell Captain Commander about your...personal reasons for being here."

"As much as this exchange of words is charming," Chōjirō said, inclining his head towards their host of humanoid bodied enemies, "we still have a threat on our hands."

Saying this, the full conglomerate of Shinigami gathered around Ichigo and Nelliel, standing before what remained of the Arrancars' ranks. With Rana glaring at them with a potent wrath that only remained in her eyes, it was clear to them that the fight of their lives was about to begin. The battle of the Vanguard against the Gotei Force was about to begin!

* * *

**A/N:** Whew! This chapter is a lot longer and took way too long to update. I do apologize to all those who have been waiting on an update (and yay, 1000 Views, I feel accomplished!) but this month has been quite hectic. Please forgive me and I hope you enjoy this story as I continue to produce more material for it :)

Now to discuss about the Chapter, some key points worth noticing. I'll go in order of events in this Chapter, that way it's easier for you reading the notes can follow better ;)

1 - Grimmjow's Death: It wasn't something I enjoyed, in the sense that I enjoy inflicting cruelty upon the helpless (kind of a contradicting thought given the nature of some of my stories, I know) but it was going to happen. With Aaroniero on the prowl, and obviously no fan of the Sexta, he was going to meet his end by her hand at some point. Might as well do it as eerily and mercilessly as possible right? I hope you liked how I handled it, regardless of him being a fan favorite of many, including myself.

2 - NelxIchigo?!: Now, when I started writing this series, I had in no way had this planned out. Most of the emphasis was going to be placed on Aaroniero with very little interaction of characters on the side. But hey, I thought if I wanted to make characters likable, I had to give them more time and dedication, even if it was a little more than the story's "main" character. In doing so I thought how a aspect of Ichigo that was never touched upon by the author (for obvious reasons to keep himself from being lynched by fans) was his desire or attraction for the opposite sex. To me, Nelliel was the perfect partner for Ichigo and in turn someone that Ichigo could become in awe of (seeing how in this version she won the battle instead of turning back into a child). While it may be a bit of admiration mixed with physical attraction, I believe that a genuine romance can be built between the two. Don't worry, they won't steal the limelight from Aaroniero TOO much, considering we have more important PLOT going on XD

**EDIT!:** _To the above, I omitted the part of where Ichigo admits his admiration of Nelliel TO Orihime. While Orihime will pick up Ichigo's unknown feelings for Nelliel, Ichigo himself won't know or openly acknowledge it. I tried to keep him more in character while keeping this pairing partially intact. Plus, the latter part of the chapter pretty much confirms Ichigo's attraction to her. _

3 - The Vanguard: Among them I created some non-mentionables, those who were KIA'd or KO'd respectively. I hope you liked their designs and the way I used them to give Nel and Ichigo's team battle a cool feeling. The two that obviously stood out the most, in this Chapter, was Duros Montaña and Angelle Cooney. While the prior was a original character I made to partner up with Angelle, Angelle herself is ACTUALLY a Crossover from Tite Kubo's Zombie Powder. I made some adjustments, here and there, to make her a suitable Arrancar, but her overall physique and power base is a reference to Angelle Cooney, the Psykicker from Kubo's first published Manga. Just thought that'd be a good tease for some people who know and a big thanks to Lastation for helping me think of a unique Arrancar capable of being a threat :D

4 - The Gotei Force: Why is only Byakuya and Mayuri here instead of the Captains (and one Lieutenant and lower Seated Officer that came with)? This is a bit of a tease, but this means that the original canonical events involving the Fake Karakura Town's myriad of skirmish/battles is being redone. Yup. That means those who got little to no screentime in this arc get some in this battle while those who SHOULD have been in the Fake Karakura Town fight will be there. But that isn't all. I got a great plan for all those participating and how things can screw up quickly with the most carefully laid out plans on either side

I think that covers most of it. Please leave your thoughts in the Review section below and please be nice about it. I shall eagerly answer any more questions you have in the Reviews or the PM's you send me to my profile's wall. I hope you all enjoyed the read, despite its length

Until then, I'll see you all in the next update of **A Predator Among Us! **


	6. Wrath of the Hollow Queen

**50 Years Ago, Las Noches' Throne Room**

* * *

"What do you mean our ranks are becoming null?!" Rana Zolinder, the Primera of the Arrancar Army's Espada shouted towards the occupied stone throne. Her white sleeved arms tensed underneath the smooth silken fabric, with white dyed pauldrons affixed to each of her shoulders rising and falling with every inhalation after a hasty exhalation. Everything, as per most of the building Arrancar army's ranks, were designated in white hued uniforms, a color that never set well for Rana.

But choice in clothing design wasn't primarily on her mind at the moment.

"Did I stutter or are my words not meant to reach your ears?" Sōsuke Aizen, acting leader of the Arrancars in Hueco Mundo's redesigned palace. Draped in Captain's garments befitting his current racial status as a Shinigami, he sat on the throne not as a modest protector of souls but as a overseer of the dark opposite of his ilk. His dark brown locks and glasses gave him a beguilingly convincing kindness that was all but sucked out when his disposition or his tone shifted to the immediate left. Narrowing his hazel eyes through the light refracting lenses, he said stoically without care, "your positions as Espada is being changed up. Most of you will not remain in your designated ranks but serve as guards and subordinates for those who will replace you. Is there a problem with that, Rana Zolinder?"

"Why isn't there a problem with that idiotic command?!" Rana snarled out spitefully, taking a few steps forward to approach the throne of her superior. The only thing that kept her from moving totally forward was a strong hand, grasping her left shoulder that restricted her movement. Looking over her shoulder, she vehemently glared at one responsible, "let go of me!"

"Señora Primera, I do believe Señor Aizen has the right to do as he says," Dordoni Alessandro Del Socaccio, the Tres, said with a stern look on his face. Despite being glared at dead in the eyes by the one who held far greater power than himself, he didn't look the slightest intimidated. "we are his blades. If he befits us to being not strong enough to be called Espada then we should gracefully step aside-"

"Well look who lost his pride!" Rana spat, turning on her heels and wrenching his grip easily from her person. Reaching out to grasp him by his collar, she lifted him up to stare straight into her red eyes. Eyes that sought nothing but vengeance for her perceived act of betrayal. "I thought you of all people would try to fight this...this...this IDIOTIC notion that these fakes could replace us!"

"They are no more false in design than you or I, my Primera! The act of unmasking, whether by coincidence, providence or through will itself doesn't make a Hollow less a Hollow. The fact they are strong and we are lesser means just that. We don't belong at Señor Aizen's side unless we are strong enough to contend with them," Dordoni said matter-of-fact, not a iota intimidated by his ferocious leader.

A sudden punch to his right jaw sent the proud Arrancar reeling back onto his left shoulder, skidding a good few meters away along the smooth tiled floor. Wincing, Dordoni opened his eyes as he struggled up into a crouched posture. Wiping away some of the blood trickling from his jaw, he saw it wasn't Rana but another who took offense to what he said.

"Are my words too true for your ears to listen to, Señor Soto?" Dordoni asked upon returning to a standing stance.

Soto Muerte, the Segunda, simply glared at Dordoni further. His alabaster colored hood sewed into the fabric of his bodily covering cloak showed little more than his basic facial features. But what could be seen of his face was nothing short of pure contempt for his comrade. "This isn't a matter of who's in the right. From the beginning we Arrancar united under the banner of a Shinigami for hopes that we were given what was promised. When a promise is broken, that is when we abandon all preconception of pride and honor for the sake of a false ideal."

"As much as it pains me to say it, I believe he's right, Dordoni," A melodiously smooth voice spoke in a sultry tone from the rear of the ranks.

Dordoni looked over and gritted his teeth at whom spoke. The scantily clad Sverrie Alessi, the Sexta, strutted forward to stand near but not beside Rana and Soto. Her black hair braided over her shoulders flourished with every step her creamy hued legs took. Eyes colder than ice regarded the two rebellious speaking Arrancars before disdainfully staring back at Dordoni.

"We are Arrancars, not Shinigami. The pact we formed was out of a mutual desire to see the Gotei 13 crumble and bring upon a new era ruled by Hollows. By dissolving us of our stations, we are now out of this pact and it was handed to others not our own. This is more or less taking action against a traitor. It's simple, when you think about it, don't you agree?" Sverrie said factually, taking the time to prop the back of her left hand on her hip while cocking a smile at Rana, earning a spiteful hiss from her.

"As much as it pains me to agree on anything with you, this time I can do so with clear conscience," Rana said with a bitter tone.

"I knew you had a beautiful heart under that ugly exterior of yours," Sverrie teased with a fluttering wink.

"Do you want to die?!" Rana snarled hatefully, this time fully restrained by Soto with both arms.

"Even for someone not as beautiful as I, that is quite cute of you to act so angrily," Sverrie giggled with a grin.

"Are you guys out of your mind?!" Cirucci Sanderwicci, the Quinto, tried to urge a few others from approaching Rana's ranks. She looked desperate and pleading, as if knowing going against someone like Aizen was suicide with or without numbers. She was kept from further intervening by Gantenbainne Mosqueda, the Séptima, as he placed a hand on her shoulder and gravely shook her head at her shorter frame.

"The only ones out of their minds are the ones who are ready to die for a Shinigami without any form of glory," Said Santo La Futuro, the Diez, his large muscular form striding forward with a cape flowing over his shoulders. A golden chain held it up, as only a pair of white vambraces covered his forearms with the rest of his body exposed in all of its glory. Even his lower body had skin tight leggings, with bare feet tapping against the chilling tiles as he walked beside other rebellious Espada.

On Santo's right was the quiet Odios Choque, the Cuatro, whom had a tall wiry body shape. Metal rings lined along his digits, clanging and jingling with ever swaying motion his arms had over his bodysuit variant of his own uniform. Fair complexioned face was partially hidden by a wafting V shape of bangs, covering his nose and separating his two parted lips. Violet eyes stared ahead with determination that spoke more than any words he had to say.

On Santo's left was the provocatively grinning Sedosa Belleza, the Octava, who competed as one of the more attractive Arrancars of the Espada. With an exposed cleavage of similar girth to Rana's, a unique black spider tattoo starting from her sternum and working its way up and around her barely concealed mammaries was viewed. A dark lipped hood concealed her upper features, leaving only a pair of glowing white eyes to pierce the veil of darkness while black lips smiled decadently. Her own voluptuous frame was covered in a long boot, flank covering skirt and long armed gloves matching the victorian styled corset top wrapping around her torso.

"We are the strongest force in Hueco Mundo," Sedosa said openly, joining the rest of the conspirators to stand in front of Aizen, crossing her arms over her bosom, "not your replacements."

"Why bother this open declaration to your subordinates? Where are these replacements of ours?! This ill conceived plan of yours is going to be the end of your treachery, Aizen!" Rana snarled openly, feeling even more confident with over half the Espada on her side. With hand thumbing her cutlass free, she began unsheathe it, just as the others began to respectively with their own weapons of choice.

Sighing, Aizen closed his eyes and shook his head. He had been patient enough to see how many could remain loyal amidst Rana's childish tirade. Clearly he hadn't picked the most loyal of Arrancars, as he had seen only four remaining on the sidelines. Drawing his gaze over to a helmeted individual, the Novena Espada Aaroniero Arruruerie, he saw that he remained adamantly away from most of the individuals. Even more, he kept into the shadows of a single pillar, near the back of the throne room.

"_Does he know what's to happen or is he simply cautious? What a curious specimen you are, Aaroniero_," Aizen thought with a smile.

"What's so funny?!" Rana shouted indignantly with a wave of her sword.

"Nothing of your notice, I see," Aizen responded smoothly. Raising a single hand up, he snapped his fingers, his eyes became obscured by a glimmer of light, creating a menacing visage over his handsome face. What sounded was a cacophony of figures appearing, uttering a number of buzzing echoes detailing their Sonidos, "and if you want to know who your betters are, here they are."

All at once, Rana could see exactly who challenged her. A tall man with the jaw bone of a wolf slung around his neck with a hollow hole present on his upper chest. A white crowned, fur collared dark skinned man hunched beside him. And the third being a ram crowned female Arrancar, draped in a bodily clad uniform unique in its own way.

"These are the first three I'd endowed with Shinigamification that I've deemed the new class of Espada," Aizen introduced from on high, his smile ever-present with his visible success, "the man in front is my new Primera, Coyote Starrk. You may recognize the other to his left as Baraggan Louisenbairn, the former God King of Hueco Mundo. I've named him the new Segunda. The last of these is Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck, whom I decided on the rank of Tres."

"Barragan!" Rana shouted outright, her eyes locking on distastefully to the haughty former King who presided over Las Noches. Seeing him in such a Shinigami form made her want to retch. What's more is that he settled for such a lofty yet secondary title. "I thought you had more pride than this! Where is your hatred for Shinigami?! Where is your sense of Hollowity?!"

"That era is gone, Zolinder," Barragan said gravely, crossing his arms over his chest in a presumptuous manner, "my kingdom is now in the hands of Arrancars, not Hollows. If I can regain that power by bending my knee even to the likes of Lord Aizen, then I shall do so. Self preservation is preferable, after all, than annihilation."

"Bastard!" Rana shrieked, her bared teeth visible as much as the glow in her eyes was. Her gathering Reiryoku vented an immense Reiatsu, one that shook the foundation of the hallowed hall that their deified leader sat within. It was enough to send particles of dust and pieces of the ceiling to rain down as crimson tendrils of light danced around the Primera's body. Raising her sword over her head, she leaped forward, aiming to cut down the old Arrancar in a single bow, "YOU'LL BE THE FIRST TO FALL!"

It was in the instant of her attack that she saw her attacker. She moved like a wraith, overtaking the space between her and Barragan like it was nothing. Her hand was on her sword's hilt, bangs covering her silver-grey eyes, already on the move to unsheathe her weapon. When the sensation of a pommel crashing into her sternum's 1 etched tattoo, an audible cracking sound following a eruption of blood from the Primera's chest was witnessed by all.

Her breath escaped her as her eyes widened incredulously, her body overwhelmed by the force of the Iaido style bludgeoning. The rest of her frame hit by the concussive wave the sword pommel had produced, sending her sprawling across the air. Pillar after pillar collapsed as her red haired body shattered the support columns as if they were plaster. By the time she felt the wall halt her bodily retreat, her world was already descending into darkness.

Blood oozing out of the mouth, she could barely crane her head up to witness tragedy occur before her dizzying vision. Santo cried out a retaliatory shout of bloody vengeance, as he and Odios rushed to attack Nelliel. The two would find their chests impaled by two thin beams of light, created by Starrk's eyes, killing them both with a mere glance. As their bodies fell limply to the ground, Nelliel rushed forward and began to singlehandedly subdue the rest of the rebels, bringing them to their knees and beating them to a bloody pulp.

"D-Damn...you...N-Nelliel..." Rana coughed out, her vision vanishing just as suddenly as her consciousness.

* * *

**Chapter 6 - Wrath of the Hollow Queen**

* * *

**The Present, Las Noches Interior**

It had all been building up to this moment. The five decades of plotting vengeance against the Shinigami who threw her into darkness. Half a century boiling her anger to the breaking point. Fifty years awaiting the day her vindication of being the true power of Hueco Mundo. All that stood in her way was a crippled faction the Espada used to be and a handful of Shinigami.

So why couldn't she kill one of them?

Her eyes bore into the one that helped slay half of her Menos Grande minions; the very same one she punched a hole through. Had it all been a sleight of the hand? No, it was flesh she remembered ripping apart. It was a real sword that attempted to cut through her own skin. And it was real life escaping those eyes she saw go dim before leaving the corpse where it dropped.

"_So what and who the Hell is she?!_" Rana angrily though, her eyes boring into her head as she made casual dialogue with the Shinigami that sent her flying with a single gesture.

He was someone worth an ample amount of caution. Still, the way he and the others seemed to let their guard down from bringing down the Menos was something that caused her blood to feel like fire in her veins. Fists clenched, grip tightening around her weapon, a feral snarl working its way across her face with brows contorting into a lethal glare was all that it took for one of the senior Shinigami to notice her. Even as he vocalized to have their attention regained, she already had made up her mind. She's going to kill them all in a single swoop.

"**_Zolinder?_**" Sin queried out cautiously, turning to face the former Primera. He could see the Reiatsu sending off pulses of heavy air waves, quaking the refilled holes that the large bodies the Menos had dissolved into. What was to start as a blistering wind on a overcast day quickly became a torrential wind filled with bioenergy, blazing and roaring throughout the air as if it had a mind of its own. "**_calm down, Zolinder! We need to regroup and-!_**"

If Rana could hear the croc Arrancar, she didn't show anything resembling to care for his words. Instead, she responded with actions, starting with holding her cutlass up in a horizontally presenting fashion. A thin line of light glistened, projecting tongues of scarlet while the body of the sword reflected the energy that began culminating around the metal framework.

Pulling back the sword, Rana uttered in a guttural tone before swinging her blade in a perfect horizon cutting stroke, "**Cero Espada!**"

To the Shinigami, it looked like everything in their line of sight was cleaved in two. A hiltless blade of light zoomed forward, creating a thunderous roar of ruptured air in its wake as it cascaded quaking over the sandy ground. A blistering haze covered the scarlet overcast wind, glaring pointedly at the group of invaders, painting a crimson and white hue over their respective bodies.

It was an attack only measurable by Ichigo.

The Substitute narrowed his eyes, glaring at the impending virulent gleam of doom. He could count the millimeters it traveled forward like an ant crossing the earth, and thus was able to see every motion his allies made in an equally slow manner. Byakuya was already in the midst of moving his mouth, no doubt trying to cast another spell to defend them against the horde of Reishi like he had done earlier. Chōjirō held his Shikai in a dividing manner over his somber expressive face, violet tendrils of Reishi infused electricity undoubtedly gathering but looked like slowly moving arms of a puppet to the eyes of the young man. Momo practically shrank in horror at the wave of eviscerating energy, with Isane leaning over to protectively shield her while raising her sword to bear. Sentaro likewise did the same for Kiyone, while Nanao stood stoically out with hands outstretched, a small orb of Reishi pulsing in front of her palms with preparation. Chad's shield-formed arm raised in front of Rukia's form like a walled off shield; he could even see Nelliel spread her arms out in front of him, her body fully standing and keeping the wave of incoming energy from reaching him.

All of these actions that Ichigo took in a matter of instants proved one thing that Ichigo suspected: They didn't have enough time to stop it!

In a rush of hyper-speed only sounding like a sword cutting through grass, Ichigo's body moved under Nel's right arm and jettisoned forward. Like a streak of midnight carving through a scarlet dyed background, the Substitute reached the giant light blade. Coating his own Zanpakutō in a jetstream of crimson outlined dark flames of intense Reiatsu, two-handedly met the attack with a counterattack of his own. When the Reishi infused sword met the blaze of scarlet outlined white light, a mighty thoom of concussive force flattened the ground beneath his hovering soles, producing an earth lifting wave of pressure that struck both defenders and attackers alike.

"_Ichigo?_" Nelliel thought with a blink of surprise, finding herself taken aback by his sudden intervention. Looking over her shoulder, she returned her gaze at the growing horizon of dark reishi flames spreading across the blinding white scarlet blade. Seeing the back of the man who protected her so selflessly, she could only wonder one thing as his stance began to shift accordingly, "_when did he move so fast?!_"

"**Getsuga,**" Ichigo began to utter, twisting his grip on his sword so its edge pointed down and his hilt was diagonally aligned to his upper right. With a magnanimously powerful pull, an abysmal crescent moon of severing energy left his blade, carrying the horizon directed Cero with it up into the sky. In the process it cut it in half, erasing the blinding light that scattered across everyone's vista of the desert, "**Tenshō!**"

But in countering his enemy's attack, he was left with the unexpected follow-up of an iron grip clamping over his left jaw and eye.

"You're in the way, Shinigami!" Rana said with a snarl, her palm briefly lighting up a scarlet hue before a deafening pop was sounded over Ichigo's head. Like a bullet from a gun, Ichigo violently jerked back in a pinwheeling motion, sailing over Nelliel's head and crashing into a dune. By the time it totally collapsed, a gust of wind that flowed through Ichigo's wake blew back Nel's hair just as Rana rushed past her to continue the assault.

A twist on Nel's left heel caused her body to spin swiftly to launch a Bala from a kick she aimed up at Rana's airborne frame. To her surprise, Rana halted her advancement to backhand the Bala away in an effortless display of grace and power. As the indigo cannon ball of Reishi barreled into the ground nearby, detonating with a voluminous upheaval of sand, Rana glared down at her nemesis.

"Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck. I haven't forgotten the score I have to settle with you," Rana growled, her free hand balling up as her sword raised to point directly at her, "I'll settle with killing you quickly. It's more than you deserve or what I wanted to do to you. But as I've said, I don't have time to screw around here!"

Kicking off the air with a exhale of Reishi behind her booted soles, Rana rushed down with sword in hand. As she swung down, her blade found its mark with another swinging up in a parrying rebound. Seeing the opposing weapon's gleam was momentarily surprising, but did little to cease the attack. Reaching around with her free hand to grapple Nel by her sword hand's wrist, she yanked her up hard enough to disorient her, allowing her to land a knee kick into her gut. Followed up by another point blank Bala, Nelliel's eyes widened and found her mouth choking out lost breath as her body careened back into the ground with a thunderous crash.

Raising her sword, a sphere of scarlet Reishi began to gather at its tip, thrumming with ominous pressure. As the Cero grew in volume, its mass easily became twice as large as Rana's own body. Once again painting the scenery in a damning gleam, the Arrancar twisted her wrist, shouting out loud vehemently, "DIE!"

"**Hadō #31, Shakkahō!**" A unanimous shout from the Lieutenants cried out, discharging a number of crimson pillars from around Nelliel's impact crater, having appeared beside her in a rapid display of Shunpo. With all five Hadōs firing at once, a singular pillar of energy crashed into the Cero, causing a volatile reaction of two aggressive masses of Reishi to occur. An elliptical flash of light later and the shockwave forced all the defenders to cover their eyes, shielding their faces from the blistering sand carried by the wind.

"One after another they keep interfering! Why can't you wait your turn to die after I'm done with this traitorous scum?!" Rana shouted angrily, waving the smoke away and looking more livid than ever.

"Any ally of Kurosaki's is our own," Nanao said decisively, looking up with a stoic glare at Rana as wafting steam carrying up from her crossed palms, "of course we'd intervene. We didn't come here for our health, after all."

"Why you-!"

Before she could continue speaking herself, a streak of black rushed by her, grappling her by the hair. Even as she howled with pain-filled rage, she felt herself thrown back where she had leaped from, causing her to bounce repeatedly across the sand. Clawing at the ground to slow her backward momentum, she briefly saw the Shinigami in question thrust towards her, sending an arrow of sword-shaped dark hued Reishi. It was all she could do to raise her sword to deflect the attack, causing it to expand upon contact, creating a concussive explosion of compressed Reiatsu.

"I've been watching you use that technique, the speedy Cero of yours," Ichigo began talking casually, using his free hand to crack the joints on his neck as his feet touched down a handful of meters in front of her. What was revealed was only a slight scuff mark across Ichigo's face, as if the damage had been nullified by his own Reiatsu despite being thrown back. Hazel eyes looked casually at Rana's burning orbs as he raised his sword purposefully at her direction, "it's like Byakuya said, my Getsuga Tenshō is too slow when I slash it. Even if I minimize the size and hasten its firing speed, it can still be blocked or evaded by an opponent of equal or greater caliber. But what about a thrust? I think that greatly increases the speed and physical power of a Getsuga Tenshō, don't you think?"

"You bastard!" Rana snarled out, crawling out of the crater she had been knocked into. With her free hand, she clutched at a grazing wound on her right shoulder, inflicted by the hyper compressed Getsuga that was barely dispelled by her own sword. With sword in hand, she bared her teeth at him, her aura blazing brightly around her enough to send more concussive pulses that shook the landscape around her. Raising her blade over her head, she shouted directively, "Vanguard! Kill them all! Wipe them off the face of Hueco Mundo! Do not let a single one of them escape! I'll ensure this one dies so make sure to do your part!"

"You can try," Ichigo said, levelling his sword towards Rana as a vibrant aura of pale cerulean Reiatsu discharged around his body. With eyes glowing a bright light blue, the Substitute declared openly, "but you're going to lose, Arrancar!"

* * *

Upon hearing the Arrancar's command, the Vanguard rushed forward and returned their attention to the collaboration of invaders. Still outnumbering them at a higher margin than them, they still felt confident about engaging them in combat. What was one or two Captains among six Lieutenants and a single human? That was their thoughts, anyways, when they hailed their numbers against the enemy.

The first one to take advantage of the command to attack was Duro.

"HAAAAA!" Duro cried out in a battle hearty shout, his armored carapace rolled up into a highly rotating sphere, crashing into the midst of Shinigami and allies alike. The impact was enough to send an omnidirectional wave of sand, forcing the defenders scatter away from his charge. But like a spinning top, the armadillo Arrancar spun across the sand, carving a trench wherever it went as it pursued its enemies.

"**Tsugi no Mai, Hakuren!**" Aaroniero shouted from a crouched posture, hastily firing a line of freezing snow in the path of which Duro was spinning towards. The pillar of snow roared forth, creating a trail of flash frozen sand in its wake as it rumbled across the air. Reaching its target, it found itself missing narrowly as the spinning sphere jumped unexpectedly in the air, lurching away from its former trail of momentum.

"_That's strange,_" Aaroniero thought as the Rukia Calavera looked up agape at the spinning armored being, "_those movements are too versatile for such a lumbersome being. Is some other force empowering him so he can change directions so suddenly?_"

Her thoughts were cut short as a ring of sakura petals swarmed into the spinning Arrancar's trajectory. Looking to her left, she noticed the subtle nuances in Byakuya's sword wrist, keeping it at his side as he stared on at the aerially hovering target. Swinging his arm to the right caused the entire flowing ring of razors to increase their speed along the rotating and levitating creature, grinding into the thick armor hard enough to produce a shower of sparks as they cut grooves into the thick hide.

That was, until the being shot out like a bullet towards Byakuya himself.

Aaroniero had to maneuver the Calavera in order to keep her from being caught up in the sandy shockwave, noticing that the Captain had long since predicted the counterattack. Casting her gaze over the horizon she noticed that Angelle was still gesturing her arms in front of her. What intrigued her was that she didn't seem to be doing anything but move her arms while her comrade attacked.

"_I wonder..._"

As Aaroniero began to investigate the oddity, the other Shinigami continued to leap to and fro across the battlefield. Duro's rampage made it hard to even aim an attack, let alone brave a physical encounter. Cleaving through the top of a dune, a shower of sand cascaded over the heads of the gathered Lieutenants, having remained adamantly together so not to be picked off.

Coughing, Sentarō rubbed the sand out of his eyes as he looked at the various silhouettes lingering outside of their battlefield, "I don't get it. Why aren't the others attacking?"

"For one of two reasons," Nanao responded astutely, rubbing sand out of her glasses as she remained crouched and observing the flight pattern of the Arrancar, "they either have no obligation to attack us all at once or they are afraid of the two who are taking main stage."

"Wait, they're afraid of those two?!" Kiyone exclaimed incredulously, pointing to the hovering little girl Arrancar and the bouncing armored giant that darted to and fro, creating a series of explosions from every impact.

"Think about it. It took Captain Kuchiki to use a high level Kidō to repel that Bala of that girl's. And from what we've seen since we arrived, that big one is tough enough to power through Captain Class attacks. Perhaps the two are the only ones who work well together and the rest are more or less a band of thugs who are less than likely true soldiers in Aizen's army," Nanao deduced, shortly before she leaped upwards, cueing the other Lieutenants to follow her lead. Shortly before that Duro spun horizontally underneath their footing, blasting away what was left of the dune before arcing up to catch them in the middle of the air.

"**Bakudo #45, Niji Shōheki!**" Momo called out, swinging out both hands to pull apart the space in front of her, creating a ten meter by ten meter wall of vibrant colors. The transparent veil of reishi distended upon the pressure caused by Duro's charge, stretching it till it almost touched the airborne Shinigami Officers. Then with a loud twang, the wall sent the Arrancar flying backwards across the air.

"Nice save, Momo!" Sentarō called out with a fist pump.

Any sign of acknowledgement would be cut off as the spinning Arrancar seemed to jerk in the air and return back towards the wall. Any sign of the cause of such a change in trajectory and velocity remained unknown as it barreled towards the Kidō protected group twice as fast.

"He's coming back!" Kiyone pointed out with a look of alarm etched on her face as her free gloved hand pointed in emphasis.

"Down!" Nanao ordered.

As the four Shinigami Officers lunged down to avoid the rotating sphere of thick armor, Isane stood her ground, intending to bait the attacker. Expectantly, the armadillo Arrancar bull rushed towards her, tearing through the wind like a high powered cannon ball. Bare meters away the Lieutenant's body shimmered to the left, employing Shunpo to avoid the attack while slashing the air as she "stepped" aside from the attacker. With sword extended in front of her appearing form, misty vapor exuded from the metal as she spoke in a hallowed tone, "**Fubuki Hitōchi!**"

In accordance to her words, Duro's right flank seemed to indent and explode in a shower of ice. Such force was employed into the attack was enough to send him skidding down to the sandy ground, bouncing a few times till it jerked to a halt.

"Alright! You got him!" Kiyone called out with a laugh.

"I didn't," Isane reprimanded lightly, dropping down to their midst with a forlorn stare towards the distant enemy, "the damage I made is only superficial. I didn't cut into his flesh with that attack."

"Dammit! Is there no way we can beat this guy?!" Sentarō exclaimed with balled up fists.

"Perhaps," Nanao adjusted her glasses, her eyes peering at the Arrancar. Seeing it slowly pick up speed again while suspended in the air, it was clear that the Arrancar was using some unseen force to manipulate its large and dense body. Looking to the creature's left, she smiled as she saw Chōjirō approaching the entity, sword in hand and left hand lifted underneath his chin. "though I think Lieutenant Sasakibe has found his own method."

"_Banish into the nether, ye of lost pride. Strangle yourself with knowing that you are at the mercy of the abyss. Blacken, Encroach, and Swallow! Begone, to oblivion where ye will find no slumber nor wakefulness from an eternal nightmare!_" Chōjirō chanted, his left hand glowing a dark black flame while his forefingers bristled with a purple light. Just before the Arrancar could jettison across the air to renew his maddening string of attacks, Chōjirō impaled his glowing fingers into the sand before his feet. In that moment, he called out the name of the Kidō, "**Bakudo #90, Jōshōkage Kakusui!**"

In the passing moments the Arrancar spun across the air a trail of black flames crawled along the sandy soil. When violet light emanated in a triangular area around the swiftly rotating being, shadows itself seemed to be pulled up out of the golden grains. Grinding across each other, three masses of glittering darkness emboldened metal of compressed Reishi currents. With each section sliding up to meet at the top, six rings of purple light blistered out from the pyramid of twenty meters in height, with its considerable girth expanding across the ground that captured the Arrancar.

At that moment, any hint of noise or movement was silenced from within the Bakudo.

Extracting his fingers from the ground, Chōjirō turned his face to scowl in the direction Angelle held her hands towards, "Your partner is sealed away. You cannot manipulate him any longer."

"Manipulate?" Isane queried aloud.

"It's as I thought," Nanao commented, earning the looks from her fellow Shinigami Officers, "that girl was somehow using some form of force to puppeteer the bigger one. While some rules may be bent with the right kind of Reiryoku and Reiatsu empowering it, it's obvious the larger Arrancar couldn't move so dexterously or swiftly. With the additional fact that he couldn't use sight or spiritual sense, the only possible person that could steer him accordingly was the girl. Her maestro equivalent gestures were already a dead giveaway she was involved on some level."

"But how is she doing it? Can she manipulate anything at will or is there some form of trick to it?" Momo asked with furrowed brows of her own.

"**Hadō #4, Byakurai!**"

A distantly voiced Kidō was heard, just shortly before a flash of cerulean electricity crossed the air in a moment's notice. Having kept visual sight of the levitating Arrancar, no one but Isane and Kiyone noticed the steam trailing from Byakuya's extended left forefingers. What they all saw caused them to gape and widen their eyes with incredulous disbelief.

Without so much as casting a caring glance, the bolt of Kidō lightning seemed to snap and pop a good five meters before reaching its mark. This caused, consequently, for Angelle to look down at the Captain. Her eyes were twitching with annoyance, a look of clear frustration etched by the intermittent facial contortions of barely restrained anger kept back by her desire to kill them expeditiously.

"Congratulations, you actually managed to keep me from moving Duro. I literally have no way to move him with that barrier cutting him off from me," Angelle confessed, her eyes narrowing at them. Looking back at the Bakudo, a devious grin spread maniacally across her face. With her plan enacted in her mind, she reached out with both palms at the barrier enclosing her partner, she began to claw her digits and slowly pull them in either direction, "might as well make do with what I got!"

The audible sound of metallic groaning could be heard. As the rattling vibrated the air and desert floor near the conglomeration of defenders, Chōjirō in particular looked over at the large pyramid of dark steel with awe. Splitting apart at the seams, the mass of sealing Reishi lifted up into the air, revealing the irritated Duro from within on his haunches. Rising above the armadillo Arrancar was the three parts of the pyramid, spinning around like saws, creating a mock whirlwind as the force sent grains blistering amidst the Shinigami.

"She's using the Kidō as a weapon?!" Nanao uttered out with shock, taking a step back in emphasis of her alarm.

"Shit, this is bad!" Sentarō swore.

"What do we do?!" Kiyone asked fearfully.

"We need to regroup! This kind of enemy we need to beat altogether-!" Isane began to suggest.

That was, until the three Kidō saws were sent propelling in three directions.

One of the dark blades was sent in the direction of the Shinigami Officers, moving at a pace that made all of their movements seem sluggish and unresponsive. Another was sent towards Byakuya and Chōjirō, whirling in a manner that was noticed by the stoic Captain and Lieutenant. The last was sent towards the Rukia Calavera, aiming to cut her down at the same time with the others.

"Be cut to ribbons, Shinigami!" Angelle declared with a gleeful laugh, arms outstretched as she watched her enemies be plunged into their demise.

What happened next caused all but those acting in these split moments to be taken aback.

Rushing to appear in a dauntingly sized blur in front of the Shinigami Officers was Aaron-Chad. With the Brazo Derecha de Gigante upraised, the red and black shield arm blocked the incoming projectile. Impacting in a grinding manner, sparks followed by pressure waves billowed the Shinigami, causing the dark locks on the tall Hispanic to fly across his scalp along with his meager clothing. With a strained grunt, he pushed back against the spinning wall of dark hued Reishi, sending it spinning awry. Taking a left step forward, Aaron-Chad pulled back his right arm, discharging a wafting wave of Reiatsu from his shoulder before thrusting it forward with a powerful punch.

"**El Directo!**" Aaron-Chad ruptured the Kidō wall in a single attack, causing it to explode and sending the fragments to clatter to the ground like heated glass.

At the same instance appeared Nelliel, arriving just in front of Byakuya and Chōjirō. Freshly healed by her liquid secretion, she held up her sword in a defensive posture to catch the Kidō in the path of her blade's edge. With a magnanimous crash of a powerful force meeting a resilient object, sparks scattered in the shockwave of Reiatsu combating each other. Ultimately, Nelliel had only used one hand, rearing back her free hand into a compact sphere of condensed Reishi.

"HA!" Nel cried out as her fist struck the rotating triangle, releasing a cannonball of energy that tore through the spinning Kidō steel like it was stained glass.

The last place to have received aid was Aaron-Rukia in the form of an over the shoulder attack. Coming out of nowhere was the blade-shaped projectile of wafting burgundy-black tongues of Reishi, causing Aaron-Rukia's bangs and cloak to flourish with the high speed deployment of the technique. When it collided with the incoming whirling razor, it split the triangle in a seared half, causing the rest of the Kidō to clatter scatter in the wind in brittle fragments.

While grateful that she didn't have to lose her head or use a technique out of her deep proverbial pocket, Aaron-Rukia couldn't help but turn on her heel and shout back at her benefactor.

"You idiot! Do you realize how close to my head that was?! Are you helping or attacking me?!" Aaron-Rukia shouted with visible frustration at the distant Ichigo, whom she saw was parrying his blade with Rana at an even level.

"Sorry, I didn't think you could dodge it so I-whoa!" Ichigo began to say, finding himself narrowly avoiding a axe kick that split the sandy earth beside his feet. When Rana kicked off the earth to send an elbow jab his way, he reached out with his own forearm, causing a jettisoning wave of Reiatsu to produce a shockwave that distended the sand underneath their feet for dozens of meters. With sand flourishing around their locks as they locked their gazes at each other, Ichigo continued where he last spoke, "I did the best I could, Rukia! Give me a break!"

"Tch, idiot," Aaron-Rukia said with a sigh, smiling with resignation. "_at least you kept this body safe, Substitute Shinigami. For that, I thank you._"

Others were more grateful...

"_H-He stopped it?!_" Isane thought with dilation of the eyes, still pale at what she witnessed.

"_A Level Ninety Kidō was stopped and shattered by...a human?_" Nanao realized silently, unable to suppress a bead of sweat from nervously crawling down her scalp.

"W-Wow!" Sentarō uttered, his body falling onto his buttocks with his hands resting on the sand behind him, "I-I didn't even have time to react!"

"Th-Thank you," Momo meekly thanked Aaron-Chad, bowing her head gratefully while the others just stared on with jaws open, unable to produce words of their own.

Raising a hand to give a thumbs up, Aaron-Chad smiled over his shoulder at them, "Don't...mention it."

Others were even less grateful...

"Arrancar," Byakuya spoke evenly, earning a slight turn of Nel's head, "there was no need to assist us. We could have easily dodged that projectile."

"Then, why didn't you?" Nelliel asked pointedly, looking over her shoulder with a coy smile.

"Well..." Chōjirō began to say, but fell silent, finding himself looking uncomfortably to the side while Byakuya did likewise in an opposite direction.

"You couldn't dodge it, is what you mean," Nel chirped with a giggle. Turning away while tapping the flat of her Zanpakutō on her sword arm's shoulder, she chided in a lighthearted tone, "you should learn to appreciate help, Shinigami, whether it was asked for or not. You'd make friends easier that way, ya know?"

"_Friends? With an Arrancar?_" Byakuya thought with a pensive frown, his eyes staring at her ram-crowned turquoise covered head with disbelief. "_ridiculous. How can you call yourself an ally of Ichigo Kurosaki, human and Shinigami, let alone a friend? What kind of creature are you?_"

"Apologies, then," Chōjirō humbly bowed his head, earning a sidelong glare by Byakuya at him, "you have my sincerest thanks. It is hard for someone like myself to admit needing aid, if you can understand."

Hearing that caused Nelliel to smile and return her gaze at their airborne enemy. With her attention off them, the Captain took a chance to glare openly at his associate, earning a nervous look back at him.

"You're too quick to bow your head, Lieutenant," Byakuya rebuked in a low voice.

"She did assist us, didn't she?" Chōjirō asked quickly.

"Regardless of that, you need to keep more value of your pride, lest you become indebted unnecessarily to another," Byakuya huffed, turning his gaze back towards the enemy.

"I'll remember that, Captain," Chōjirō acknowledged with a sigh.

"SHINIGAMI!"

The sound of a shrill scream caused everyone to recoil with shock. The unsteady giggling mingled with snarls coming out of Angelle's mouth caused onlookers to stare incredulously at the disturbing cross of facial features panning over her visage. Swinging her hands up, she orchestrated similar movements visible to the more astute observers, causing a nearby Duro to roll back up into a ball.

"Hahahaha, she's pissed! You guys are all so dead!" Duro cackled within his rapidly spinning frame, the armored sphere quickly picking up speed to create a miniature vortex of swirling air currents. It was enough to drag the sand around his hide, creating an intimidating display of momentum and force to be employed.

"Which one should I kill first? Oh, I know!" Angelle squealed with deranged joy, her eyes narrowing to half mast, a murderous gleam escaping her orbs as she swung her arms to her left, "I'll kill the human who saved those Shinigami Officers!"

In the wake of a sonic boom, Duro was sent rampaging towards Aaron-Chad.

Standing firmly in place while the other Shinigami stepped back and recoiled at the unstoppable rotating sphere of dense dermal plating, Aaron-Chad's eyes narrowed behind the flowing bangs that whipped around his crown. Raising up his right arm, he opened the palm just a split instant before Duro struck their vicinity. What happened was nothing short of awesome to the Shinigami he defended.

Not only was Duro halted but his rotation ceased in the firm grasp his dark red-black hand held over the barely visible head. Hidden eyes opened with shock as Aaron-Chad's strength overpowered Angelle's control over his form, paralyzing him in the middle of the air. The grip over his skull, and by extension his whole body, was so painful it felt like knives were digging in between his joints.

"Time to take care of you for good," Aaron-Chad said with a violet glint of light emanating from his dark brown orbs. Rearing his right arm back, a jetstream of cerulean Reishi spewed back from the shoulder. Empowered by the magnified strength his Brazo Derecha de Gigante was giving his limb, he slammed the curled up Duro into the ground with a heave, pushing him deep into the sand with an uproar of parting grains. Rearing back his left arm, viscous liquid-turned-tissue crafted a new limb of pale white-red coloration. With particles of high pressurized Reishi forming over each digit, Aaron-Chad curled the hand into a fist, murmuring in a morbid manner, "**Brazo Izquierda del Diablo, La Muerte!**"

When his punch struck, the entire battlefield became deafened for what came next. The sand parted in the span of instants, created through the visible warp of the air as the fabric of what held solid matter together was ripped apart. The Shinigami Officers were sent sprawling head over heels from the mere proximity of the shockwave, causing the more experienced fighters to take flight and brace themselves from the blistering wind that struck them head-on with their arms. Upon the end of the attack's end, one could see the length of a football field indented in the shape of a skull, indented a good dozen meters inwards.

Extracting a blood-soaked fist from the center of the crater, Aaron-Chad saw nothing but dark ichor soaking the soil before his stained slacks and shirt. Not a piece of the durable hide of the feared Duro remained. Ripped apart from the pressure of Aaron-Chad's attack, the Arrancar was obliterated in every meaning of the word. Looking around at the extent of the technique's attack, the Hispanic murmured aloud, "Hm...I guess I overdid it."

"You think?! Who side are you on anyways?!" Sentarō shouted, climbing up from his haunches to point accusingly at his rescuer.

"Sorry," The young giant responded curtly.

"Don't apologize so quickly!" Sentarō exclaimed with frustration, "what kind of man are you?!"

"Give it a rest, Sentarō," Kiyone admonished with a slap to the fellow 3rd Seat's back, smiling wryly at him, "we were all taken by surprise. But it's one enemy down, so we have nothing to complain about, right?'

"I...guess you're right," Sentarō huffed, crossing his arms as his lips pinched together like that of a fish, "but don't get used to that happening. It's a rarity you're ever correct about something."

"You never change," Kiyone sighed with a facepalming gesture to herself.

"_Incredible power,_" Nanao thought with a twitch as she helped Momo to her feet, with Isane staring with just as much bewilderment at the stalwart companion of Ichigo's, "_to think that a human had so much power. It's no wonder this is the one who helped fell so many Menos Grande in a single attack. He's a monster of undeniable strength!_"

Meanwhile, in the air, Nelliel couldn't help but sigh with relief.

"That's one headache gone," She replied with a smile.

"An attack of that scale seemed...excessive," Chōjirō commented offhandedly.

"One enemy down hardly seems like it was worth the effort," Byakuya sighed, looking over at the clumps of Arrancars lingering outside of the skull engraved battlefield, "the enemy's numbers still outweigh our own by a large margin. If a pair of Arrancars gave us this much trouble, the real elites will be all the more challenging to defeat."

"Not to mention the Espada waiting in horizon," Chōjirō grumbled lowly.

"All the more reason to finish this battle as quickly with as minimal effort. We need to conserve strength, after all, to combat our true enemies," Byakuya said with finality, gesturing his sword hilt up, causing the scattered petals making up his Zanpakutō to rise and circle around himself and Chōjirō, "let's try and ensure we remain as close together as possible. Our attacks sync well together and this will keep our use of Reiatsu down to a minimum."

"Agreed," Chōjirō remarked with a nod, raising up his electric imbued Shikai to visibly divide his face.

In the outskirts of La Muerte's impact site, was Ichigo and Rana, still battling in earnest. It was during a moment that Ichigo crossed blades with Rana that he took a moment to think on what happened mere moments ago.

"_Chad's gotten so strong. He seems like a completely different person than the guy I used to help bail out,_" Ichigo thought as he himself dealt with Rana. They too had to deal with reverberating force of Aaron-Chad's attack. It was on such a scale that Ichigo almost felt the wind knocked out of him from bracing against it. Had it not been for the red haired Arrancar out for his blood, he'd take more stock in observing the detailed skull engraved across the sandy wastes, "_glad you're alright!_"

"Why do you look so relieved?" Rana asked with a growl, her vividly angry red gems clashing with Ichigo's hazel marbles.

"My friends are a lot stronger than you give them credit for. You guys don't stand a chance!" Ichigo spoke with a smile, pushing harshly against the cutlass of his enemy with his katana.

Only making her give a step, Rana harshly pushed back with a lean forward, smiling in a sneering fashion, "You fool! You're forgetting that Angelle's still on the battlefield. Because you are calm, that means their guards are down...making them good as dead!"

It was in this moment that each of them felt a powerful force hit them from over their heads. Nelliel and her two allies felt their eyes widen as their bodies crashed into the ground below, followed by Aaron-Chad and the Shinigami Officers fall face flat into the ground. As the conglomeration of allies struggled to rise up from their impact sites, they looked up at the livid Angelle, her eyes practically pins in a sea of white framed in red veins.

"Guys!" Ichigo shouted with alarm, his head veering over to see all of his friends in peril.

"Don't take your eyes off your enemy, dumbass!" Rana snarled as she reached around with a free hand, gripping on Ichigo's sword wrist. Pulling him forward she planted a knee kick into his gut, causing his eyes to widen and his mouth to be agape. With a Bala detonation at the base of her kneecap, she sent the Substitute hurdling away from the battlefield, crashing through a number of half risen sand dunes. Casting a last smirk at the allies of Ichigo, she charged with sword readied, eager to return to battling her avowed enemy.

"Taking your eyes off me will be your last mistake," Angelle growled, her outstretched claw formed hands tightening into fists, causing all of the downed Shinigami to writhe in place by invisible tendrils that squeezed them to a point where it'd feel excruciating, "just stand there and d-"

The Arrancar cut herself short when she felt something penetrate her Pesquisa from behind. Turning her head around, she saw a white blade cutting through the air, aiming straight for her neck. Bending her head down, her pigtails bobbed up, causing a few frays of hairs to be sliced off at the ends. Twirling in the air in a acrobatic manner, she clawed at the air with her fingertips as she returned attention to her enemy.

It was the one person she saw that wasn't among the ones she paid attention to. Through all of the mass of people communicating with each other, it was the one that was the quietest and most tactful that she forgot to consider. The mere sight of her made her forget her livid disposition, giving her a newfound interest in her newfound prey; that prey coming in the form of Aaron-Rukia.

"I can see through your trick, Angelle Cooney," Aaroniero spoke through the Calavera's lips, raising her sword in a challenging manner, "your _arms_ won't touch me like they had for the others!"

As she engaged Angelle singlehandedly, the others were freed by the invisible tendrils of force. With all of them rising up to their feet, distant silhouettes marking the rest of the Vanguard began to slowly move in, drawing weapons and raising their Reiatsu to overlap the skull emblazoned landscape. Seeing this put them all on the defensive, but couldn't help but keep their attention on the two airborne women.

"Nice going, Rukia!" Kiyone shouted up with a smile.

"Kick her ass!" Sentarō concurred in his own yell.

"Focus, you two! Don't waste Rukia's chance she gave us," Nanao said firmly, raising her hands up in a defensive posture, her back already nudging against Isane and Momo's.

"There's so many," Momo whispered.

"Stay close," Isane insisted with a smile, looking over her shoulder as she nervously glanced to them all, "I'll try to heal your injuries when we get breathers. Just make sure we all stay together, okay?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Kiyone and Sentarō agreed in sync.

Byakuya returned his blossom blades to circle around himself, just as Chōjirō rose back up in a dignified manner. With both of their weapons raised and ready to face the incoming horde of enemies, he couldn't help but glance up at where Rukia stood. A rare smile crossed over his face, disappearing as the first wave of enemies rushed to attack them head-on.

Beyond the battlefield, Rana rushed to catch Ichigo off guard, galloping across the ruptured dunes she sent him flying through. Surprisingly the trail went cold at a distended sandy crater, causing her to skid to a stop. Looking around with her red eyes, she snarled with frustration, her Pesquisa still muddied by the plethora of Reiatsus generated not but a kilometer away.

"Where did you hide, Shinigami bastard?!" Rana hissed under her breath, her cutlass in hand as her cape flapped behind along with her crimson locks.

In an instant, a black figure erupted from the sand to her right. Spiraling forth, she could tell it was the black edge of the Shinigami's Zanpakutō. Turning on her heel she swung her sword around, deflecting the sword, scattering the shower of sand it pulled up with it in a single thunderclap of colliding metal. What she didn't see, however, was the Shinigami himself.

It was during the deflection of said weapon that she heard another explosion of parting sand before a super-sped object. Before she could turn her head fully to the opposite direction a fist crashed into left jaw, carrying with it a vibrant plume of cerulean colored Reishi. Tasting copper with the freshly cut wound her teeth unintentionally made on the inside of her mouth, her entire body took flight with a pop of cracked air pressure, the Reiatsu released causing a pulse of wind to push the sand down a good three meters inwards.

As she pinwheeled across the air, Ichigo kept on the pursuit, his body becoming a whirlwind of momentum. Even as his enemy caught sight of the sword dangling in midair, still moving backwards from her parrying strike, she saw the boy's hand reach forward and grasp it back into his right hand. Pulled back, he swung it around in an unforgiving right-left downward arc, meeting a twirling return swing by the Arrancar. Discharging a bodily burst of Reiatsu, Rana reattained her upright posture, her body bristling with blistering currents as her Reiatsu crashed with the Shinigami's. With both of them holding their individual weapons with their right hands, eyes bored into each other with mutual dislikement.

"My friends are going to win, Arrancar," Ichigo growled, his hazel eyes glowing a bright blue as he pushed his ebony hued weapon against her white steeled sword, "and so will I!"

"We'll see about that, Shinigami!" Rana shouted back, her red eyes becoming an opaque scarlet as her hair rose up like a curtain of flames.

* * *

"My-My, they certainly are causing a racket," Szayel commented idly, his eyes glancing upon the sandy horizon. He could feel so many familiar, nostalgic signatures among foreign ones. He could place each of them as they were. Shinigami, human, and Arrancar. He only wish that he could watch closer, but that could put him at risk. No, he had far more entertaining things to do: choking the life out of his victims, for example.

"Let's see here...Dondochakka was it? I think I tore your thoracic vertebrae in five places. I think you almost made a musical sound after the fourth snap. Sorry for my rambling, but what I'm asking is," Szayel continued, leaning forward to the bloodied figure that lied in a heap before him, rasping heavily, "are you still conscious?"

"Ah...gul...nah," Dondochakka wheezed out.

"Hm, I think tearing your tongue out might have been a mistake. Now I can't understand what you're saying," Szayel frowned, tapping his chin as he held both Arrancar voodoo dolls in between his spare hand. Looking over at Pesche, whom gave nothing but a one-eyed scowl, was the only one truly defiant other than the Shinigami and Quincy he incapacitated. Using his right index finger, he flicked the side of the Pesche doll, causing Pesche's head to jerk to the left, "you're surprisingly quiet. I've only ripped apart your leg and arm muscles. Your bones and respiratory tract is still very much intact, so why aren't you speaking?"

"I've got...nothing...to say...to the likes...of you!" Pesche snarled in between heaves, his lungs laboring to bring oxygen in while under so much pain.

"What a boring thing to say, if not entirely expected of Nelliel's Fraccion," Szayel retorted in a dry tone, juggling the two dolls in between his fingers. "it pains me to admit it, but you were at least more capable than those other two. You destroyed my strongest of underlings and were able to make me lose my grip on their dolls. With all of this debris I don't think I can find it without dirtying my hands. What pests you two are to my plans. I wish Nnoitra killed you two rather than leave you both maskless and alive."

"W-What?!" Pesche uttered aloud with surprise, craning his neck up to look at Szayel with shock behind his faux mask.

"Oh, that's right. I wasn't supposed to talk about that. Silly me, it seems...what do humans say? The cat is out of the bag? Yes, I believe that's right," Szayel said with a snap of his finger, grinning maliciously down at Pesche, "I was the one who helped former Octava Nnoitra Gilga defeat former Tres Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck. It was probably one of my most unorthodox invention, being able to cast mist particles to take on the appearance of whoever enters it, leaving the observer completely dumbfounded. Meaning that, thanks to me, you and your beloved superior were cast out of Las Noches."

"B-B-Bastard!" Pesche writhed on the ground, his voice projecting the lividness from his throat as he tried to right himself up, "I'll kill you! I'll tear apart that smug face for what you did to her!"

"Oh? That's strange. I thought you'd be more angry at Nnoitra for ripping your masks off. That must have been excruciating to experience-"

"Of course I am! But...even still...Nelliel was a kind, compassionate and wonderful person," Pesche's eye hole became misty, watering up with moisture from the eye that was hidden behind the false mask, "anything that happened to us seemed abysmal in comparison to what happened to her. She was wholefully loyal and wise. She didn't deserve what happened to her. I'd rather experience my mask being torn apart a thousand times than see that happen to her again!"

"HAHAHAHAHA! You see? You can be talkative when you want to be!" Szayel laughed aloud, raising one hand up to his face to stroke it down his skin, while the other kept hold of the two dolls. After calming down from his cackling state, the Espada looked down at Pesche with a cruel smile, "so, you think having your mask ripped off over and over is meaningless compared to the emotional pain of seeing your beloved superior wounded? Well, how about we put that to the test?"

"I agree. That will be fascinating to test on this eager specimen."

Szayel blinked, expression frozen on his face. With his smile slowly retracting, he looked over his shoulder, turning his fleshy wings around to look at the source of the voice. What he saw caused a humorous smile to stretch across his visage, emphasized by a query, "And you are?"

"Who am I?" Captain Kurotsuchi asked in a bewildered tone, a golden-plated smile spread ear-to-ear as he stood confidently before the Espada. Standing but a meter to his right-rear flank was his Lieutenant, Nemu Kurotsuchi, the artificial daughter and closest confidant. A sleeveless white labcoat atypical of those of high ranking within the R&amp;D, was affixed over her Shikhakushō, flowing behind her through a gust of wind lapping over her dark raven tresses. With her Captain enamored in a cobra stylized motif, from a serpentine chin-piece made of gold, with his blue hair rolled up to frame his forehead cobra golden piece, the two were definitely a unique kind of imposing pair.

"Yes, I said that," Szayelaporro Grantz said, his smile starting to diminish as was his amusement, "what is it?"

"I have no obligation to answer that," Mayuri said pointedly, raising his hands with dramatic emphasis.

"Oh?" Octava Espada responded with a raise of his left brow.

"It's so obvious! Test subjects don't need to know the name of the one who's performing experiments upon. It's common sense, don't you agree?" Mayuri asked in an almost irritated tone, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Tch, like it matters. I've already lost interest in your name," Szayel, raising his purple colored digits to stroke the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes and sighing in a complementary expression of his boredom, "by the time I'm done with you, I'd rather not know it, least of all give my own to you."

"Why? But I want to know your name," Mayuri leaned forward as he inquired.

"You do?" Szayel opened his eyes lazily, keeping his bored pose as his eyes turned to look at Mayuri's smiling face.

"Oh of course! I want a name to plaster on the jar that I stick you inside of, after all! I don't want to confuse you for just any other specimen, after all!" Mayuri raised a hand up in a holding posture with his right hand, his claw-like middle nail brushing against his palm as his grin spread further than possible.

"I don't believe in introducing oneself unless hearing the other's name. It's common etiquette. But since you lack the decency to even do that, I'll treat you like anyone treats a barbarous creature. With absolute contempt," Stretching out a hand in emphasis, Szayel grinned toothily himself, holding the dolls idly in his left while his right pointed in a menacing fashion. "prepare yourself, Shinigami Captain!"

Silence.

It was an awkward silence that elapsed after Szayel's declaration of war. Mayuri's smile had vanished into a dumbfounded look of blatant curiosity. Cocking his head to the side, his body tip-toed forward, leaning down as if something about Szayel caught his eyes.

"W-What? What's the matter with you?!" Szayel asked in a recoiling fashion, not liking how the Shinigami was approaching him.

"What is that?" Captain Kurotsuchi inquired.

"What?" Szayel narrowed his eyes with dry unamusement.

"This," The face-painted Shinigami said pointedly, his body seemingly appearing instantly in front of him. Raising his hand with emphasis, the Captain bore forth the voodoo dolls that the Espada had flaunted. Not only were they the missing pieces that he lost his grip on, but the two that were in his possession. Continuing on while the items' significance dawned upon the dazed Arrancar, the Captain asked, "what are these, precisely? You only said they were controllers of the five senses, but you never said how could have made them or how they work-"

"How did you-?! When did you-?! GIVE THOSE BACK!" Szayel exclaimed with widened eyes of frustration, thrusting a open palm to snatch them back.

In a movement that once again surprised Szayel, the Captain employed Shunpo to slip away from his grasp. Juggling them in his palm, the Shinigami grinned cheekily as he continued to speak, "How did I get these, you may ask? You were so busy flapping your gums that you didn't bother detecting my Reiatsu. Granted I had subdued it to a level no Hollow or Arrancar could sense it. If you had used those five senses you liked to toy your prey with...well, you could have seen me fishing the other two dolls out of the debris and watching you tortured those pathetic worms."

Gritting his teeth, Szayel waved his hand around in an arc of frustration but also disconcertion, "Of course, you can sneak around like a rat and steal things like a thief. While you may laud your accomplishments now they mean naught. Your powers are insignificant before my own, testified by your unwillingness to engage me openly! Let it be known before long, all will come into my possession! Shinigami, Quincy, Arrancar...all of your lives are forfeit to me!"

Mayuri's response to such bold declarations were less than amused. In fact, Mayuri narrowed his eyes, staring piercingly at his natural enemy. Raising up the hand that held the dolls, he tossed them over his shoulder, allowing them to be caught by his subordinate.

"Nemu! Put those away in a safe place!" Mayuri commanded in a sharp tone.

"Yes, Captain," Nemu said quietly, dutifully taking all four dolls and putting them underneath the folds of her kosode, between the spacious area between her bosom.

Reaching down, Captain Kurotsuchi began to pull on his Zanpakutō, readying to draw his sword from its scabbard. All the while keeping a demented grin plastered on his face, "Arrancar, Arrancar, Arrancar...a treasure trove of test subjects waiting for me to dissect them all, one by one. I'll make sure to take my time with you. My lab will be very accommodating, I assure you. Plenty of shelf space for your organs and tissue samples, haha!"

"Hold it!"

"Oh great, here it comes," Mayuri responded immediately, hearing the voice of the nearby Quincy. He saw him, lying there, blood ebbing out of his mouth and staining his chin. He looked to be in terrible pain, unable to move from his prostrate posture. Yet he looked as indignant as he ever did the last time they met. "what? You have something to say?"

"You're damn right I have something to say!" Uryū shouted out at the hated nemesis of his. The last time they parted, the Shinigami wormed his way from death while leaving him to die of poison. Now with his power reclaimed, he can't do anything to strike the man once again. Balling up his fists, he pushed himself a little higher so he could glare directly at the Captain, "what the Hell are you doing here?! We don't need saving from the likes of yo-guk...kaff-kaff-kaff!"

"Save your energy, idiot!" Renji scolded from beside him, wincing at his own array of pains arresting control of his body. Seeing the man cough up blood reminded him how busted up his stomach must be. The fact he was still alive right now baffled him, but was relieved nonetheless.

"Of all people to come to our rescue...why did it have to be...that...monster?!" Uryū choked and gargled, his gut becoming a maelstrom of returned pain that had since dulled earlier.

"Be thankful that anyone came to our rescue, dumbass. We should be dead, all things considered," The Lieutenant reminded dryly.

"Rescue?" Mayuri voiced out loud idly, catching the word while he noisily unsheathed sword in a grating manner. Cocking his head to the side, his eyes blinked in a way that depicted the lack of compassion and sheer excitement. Sadism dripped from his tongue as he smiled anew, "whatever gave you that notion, Lieutenant? I'm the Head of Research and Development, Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi of the Twelfth Division. I don't go save people from certain doom. That's the job of _heroes_. No, you two shall become subjects of my research, along with those I dissect that happen to be classified as enemies! So please shut up and wait patiently while I work on eviscerating the first specimen that interests me."

"On second thought, I wish someone else came to save us," Renji said with a comical sweatdrop crawling down his crimson tressed head.

A finger snap took everyone's attention off each other, followed by an ominous rumble within the debris. Eyes darted to and fro, searching for the source of the visible movement that caused the boulder sized pieces of the palace to rattle ajar. Only when four bursts of sand blew away said gargantuan of wrecked plaster and concrete that one could see a number of silhouettes stampeding over the landscape over by Szayel's side.

"Say hello to my Fracción, Captain," Szayel said with a hand wrapped around his chin, the other propping the other elbow, giving him a truly confident posture. Two Arrancars whose bodies seemed be physically attached by their torsos, arched over his head, their hands substituting for feet as they hobbled on either flank. Another looked to possess dreadlocks and a V-shaped mask, being at least eight feet tall with a hulkish height that stood to Szayel's far left. One jiggled back and forth, possessing eight long arms of identical appearance that were attached to his wiry long body, possessing an oval designed head and mask that obscured all but his lower face. The last was a rotund, egg shaped Arrancar that had a ghastly face, though looked quite melancholic for whatever reason.

"Those guys," Renji stared agape as he whispered, "they didn't die from the building's collapse?"

"They must be the sturdier ones," Uryū surmised grimly, his eyes narrowing as sweat beaded across his forehead.

Taking the time to observe the obedient demeanors of his Fracción, Szayel looked over at the shortest and less powerful Verona. Arching a brow, he spoke in a whisper too lower for any of the observing parties to hear, "Is Project MEAT in its final stages of stewing?"

Verona nodded grimly, looking nervously up at his Master, "Stewing almost done, almost done..."

"Good," Szayel said with a smile, reasserting his commanding authority as he gazed at the Captain and Lieutenant, "if worse case scenario comes to past, I can activate _it_ and use _that_ power against them."

Stretching his arms forward, Szayel shouted aloud, "Tear their limbs off, painfully, and bring their bodies back to me! I want to make sure they feel every experiment I perform on them while they squirm to hold onto their pathetic lives!"

"RAAAAAAAAAAWR!" All the Fracciónes roar out in unison, save for Verona. He stays by his Master's side while the other four rush forward, scrambling madly to get to their newfound prey.

"Oho, this IS intriguing! Modified Arrancars! Your laboratory must hold a bounty of documents and chemicals that will aid my Gigai research!" Mayuri cried out in an ecstatic tone.

"Should we keep these intact?" Nemu inquired politely.

"Of course not!" Mayuri waved a hand in a dismissive tone, "these are tarnished with someone else's hands! Don't bother to hold back either, Nemu, or I'll have you disciplined for your mediocrity in the field!"

"Yes, Captain," Nemu responded calmly, just as the four behemoth Arrancars barreled upon their vicinity.

Just as quickly as their fists and limbs tangled into the sandy debris ground they stood on, they just as swiftly vanished. While the Captain appeared behind them, with his back facing the Mod Arrancars, he continued his trek towards the Espada. Nemu, appeared within their midst, a mere dark silhouette that they missed from her rapid evasion of their assault.

Then, she attacked.

The twin-torso clad Arrancar found its body ripped in a clean half as Nemu's arm swung in a vertical manner, imitating a sword strike. As the two writhed in agony, thick bile exuding their mouths and dark ichor out of their stump clad wounds, the Lieutenant turned on her heels to face the larger of the Arrancars.

Balling her fist up as she thrust it into its gut as it staggered with surprise, a large rupture in the air pressure occurred within the contact of her knuckles to its thick skin. Shortly after the punch was executed, its back split open and spew out a messy wave of blood and innards, the body shortly following the trail with a thunderous plume of velocity as it screamed in its blinding ascent into the air.

By the time the multi-armed Arrancar regained its bearings from the all-arms posture it gained from being sent flying, Nemu was upon it as well. A vicious rising knee kick connected with its craning chin, causing the back of the head to perform a complete slant to crack against its back. With its throat split, a thick gout of blood sprayed in the air as it twitched and spasmed to the ground onto the sand below.

"They're all dead, Captain," Nemu called out to her Captain.

"I'm quite busy, Nemu," Captain Kurotsuchi said, his casual approach to the Espada not interrupted by the brief engagement his Lieutenant had with the Arrancar underlings. His smooth walk was so calm that it appeared eerie. With a canvas of death and merciless carnage painted by his pseudo-daughter, it created the perfect backdrop for just what to expect from the Captain of the 13th Division. "if you have so much time on your hands, please gather the bodies into a pile. We'll need to burn them to dust to ensure nothing remains of this one's experiments that I don't find usable."

"At once, Captain," Nemu responded accordingly, setting off with a turn of the heel to accomplish her new assignment.

Only a handful of meters away, Mayuri smiled ear-to-ear, while Szayel glared thin-lipped with no amusement at what was witnessed. Raising a hand the Espada slowly brought it up towards the Shinigami's face. With a snap, Szayel forefingers briefly sparked a pink hued light between his digits. What followed caused a shimmering wave of transparent pink Reiatsu to discharge in an expansive manner, ripping apart the solid debris into dust while sending a voluminous wave of sand that followed the blast.

"My-My, that was close," Mayuri said from behind Szayel, causing the Arrancar to sneer, "you vibrated your own Cero to create a sonic wave of air pressure. That might have caused some serious damage, even to my body."

"I analyze the flow of Reishi in the air, and the individual characteristics of those who generate Reiatsu. It's a hobby of mine. Naturally I can manipulate my own Reiryoku in a way I see fit," Szayel said casually, all the while the flesh sac bearing wings extended to either direction, "to me, it's one of the most interesting thing in the world. I can tell a lot just by examining one's Reiatsu and determine their level of strength, not to mention the extent of their abilities."

"Is that what you're doing, Arrancar? Examining my abilities because I'm an unknown? What have you discovered thus far?" Mayuri inquired pointedly with a tilt of the head.

"Something quite simple, actually. Despite your speed, you don't seem very reliant on your technique on a habitual basis. You usually let others do the heavy lifting and try to exert as little effort as possible. Not only that," Szayel turned his head around to look over his right shoulder, adding with a sick smile, "you're not very observant to what's around you."

A quick-sped motion later, and the flesh sac wings cut off Mayuri's rear flank. With the Captain opening his eyes wide, he turned around just before the fleshy petals wrapped around his body. A sickly pulsing rhythm began, as the grotesque fluids flowed over his body, pumping over and around his Haori-coated form. Being spat out a few seconds later, Mayuri coughed, having fallen to his hands and knees.

"Despite someone of your status, falling for a trap like that was pretty sad," Szayel mocked, a idle hand reaching out to a swelling bloom over his right shoulder. When a gout of fluids spat out a voodoo doll replica of Mayuri, it caused the Captain's eyes to widen, for what Szayel assumed was horror of knowing what was going to happen. Holding the doll up like a trophy, the Arrancar smiled deviously as he stated, "your life is now in my hands, Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi. Where shall I begin in ending it?"

* * *

The battlefield of the Vanguard was madness!

A host of Arrancars that were originally waiting behind a field of sand for protection from their mad counterparts now took to the fight in earnest. Having observed the abilities of some of the Shinigami from a distance, they knew better than to throw themselves blindly into an attack, lest they be annihilated by the more experienced Shinigami. For all their dysfunctional traits as an acting military unit, they made up for sheer numbers and substantial strength.

Aaron-Chad leaped up into the air, a trail of discharging Reiatsu flowing out of his shoulder before his right fist thrust into a mass of Arrancars. The shot of blue-white energy, much like a Cero, exploded in a upheaving wave of fire and sand that swirled around in a glassed whirlwind. Only rattling the Arrancars, sending them skidding away or onto their haunches, Aaron-Chad landed on the edge of the crater with his body placed in a defensive posture.

If one were to look straight above Aaron-Chad's head, you could see Aaron-Rukia's body dancing in a series of aerial twirls as the space above seem to warp and ripple like pebbles striking a pond. Doing so she thrust her sword and slashed whenever she got close, causing sparks of repulsion as Angelle gestured in the direction of her bladed attacks, or simply evaded herself when she couldn't. It looked like a battle of cat and mouse, but no one could see why it was so significant from below.

"_The Rukia-alike Calavera I have engaged with Angelle can't assist anyone at the moment. It's taking all I have to use_ Busqueda La Mente _to _see_ those psionic protuberances of hers. I'll have to use the Chad-alike for crowd control until one of the stronger ones come out,_" Aaroniero decided, as her Calavera fended off a number of the cloaked attackers with the shield shaped arm while batting them aside with the left horned arm.

Behind Aaron-Chad, Byakuya and Chōjirō continued to fight in tandem with each other. Spinning on their heels, they deftly employed Shunpo whenever threatened to be overwhelmed while dexterously swinging their sword arms around in Reiatsu colored arcs. While blossom colored razors transformed swiftly from shape to shape, being a drill one moment to a storm of star shaped shurikens, cutting and piercing a number of the enemies. Those that weren't dispatched immediately were shocked and cut down to size by the Lieutenant's Shikai, as curtains of violet hued tendrils blazed across the battlefield as the pair kept close to each other during the perilous fight.

Not too far away, Nelliel continued her acrobatic assault to her Arrancar brethren. With sword drawn now, curtains of blood showered whenever her blade found its mark, while casting sparks whenever deflected. Her earlier fights and the damage she taken she found has diminished her fighting ability to nearly half of what she wished to be at the moment. Even as she whirled her emerald tressed figure around an incoming attack, kicking the nameless enemy with a powerful jettison of her left foot, she knew she could do better. It was burden for having held herself back before, due to her own loyalty to Aizen and her comradery to the Arrancars now aiming to slay her and the one she wishes to protect.

"_Can't hesitate now!_" Nelliel thought as she flipped the scabbard of her weapon she had reclaimed during the battle royale, hitting the throat of one enemy while snap kicking an enemy in front while parrying another attack from her side. "_I have to focus! I must defeat them in order to protect him! I can't let myself become a burden now, not when I'm needed so sorely!_"

In the distance, the Shinigami Officers found themselves on the receiving end of a nonstop barrage of attackers. Bala exploded around their vicinity, creating pock marks within the indented sandy soil. Their bodies danced to and fro, trying to evade the wild shots, while also parrying off the physical ones sent their way by their enemies. It was pressuring, and putting them to the real test to fight in a real front of warfare.

"**Snap, Tobiume!**" Momo called out, transforming her katana into a double-edged sword, creating two jutte-prongs near the base on one side and nearer the tip on the other. Just as an Arrancar closed in on her person, she ducked under a broad swing of his arm, cutting her sword into its abdomen. In the aforementioned wound, the flesh seemed to ignite and shortly after burst out in a visceral explosion of subtly place Reishi into the enemy's gut. Turning away from the blast, she quickly used Shunpo to appear on the ground and land another such wound to an enemy attempting to attack Isane from behind.

"Thanks, Momo!" Isane said with a grim smile over her shoulder.

"No problem-look out!" Momo exclaimed, causing the grey-haired Lieutenant to return her attention to a particularly large Arrancar charging at her. With simian characteristics, it looked more intent on bludgeoning her with its enormous fists then draw the diminutive sized sword sheathed on its hip. This sight alone was enough to cause Momo's eyes to shrink at the enemy's statuesque build, feeling completely tiny before its-

"**Tsumetai Yari!**" Isane thrust forth, casting a billowing wind that funneled a channel of freezing Reishi. It impacted the monstrous enemy's chest, cutting the lower half of its exposed Hollow hole, and speared through on the other side. When the glimmer of light vanished, one could see the cerulean colored ice that formed a double-edged javelin that had skewered through his body. With such a wound, the beast fell to its knees and felt up its gaping wound that froze the tissue upon entry point.

Shaking out of her shock, Momo braced herself as she charged forward, sword gripped in both hands. Swinging her weapon in a brilliant arc of pink, a fireball of similar hue crashed straight into the wounded torso of the Arrancar, causing its skin and hide to be blown open, throwing it off its limbs to land with a crashing thud on its back. After several meters of drag, the body twitched before lying limp, causing Momo to breathe slight relief.

As before, that sigh was to be interrupted when a number of imposing figures rushed to meet them in combat, causing the two to tense up and leap back into the fray.

"**Sai!**" Nanao cried out, her own body a spiral of motion across the battlefield, as she picked off one at a time as quickly as possible. With the binding Kidō cast to one that attempted to swing its arms down with sword in hand, she positioned her other hand towards its forehead. A loud thunderclap of a Byakurai being cast was signified with a flash of cobalt light, piercing its skull and sending it falling to its back.

Just as a number of enemies leaped towards her from all angles, she quickly pressed both palms onto the ground, inhaling as she did so, "**Bakudo #21. Sekienton!**"

With a puff of crimson dyed smoke generating from the ground her palms pressed against, the three Arrancars aiming to stab her cleanly. Instead, a clatter of weapons mutually clanging into each other and sand being parted by their weapons' edges occurred. They looked around, coughing as the smoke caused them to gag on the foul taste it produced in the air.

"**Hadō #48,**" She began to declare, the smoke swirling around in a circular manner to reveal her crouched frame with hands outstretched, forming a triangle with dancing light shimmering in between the spaces of her fingers and palms. Said refraction of a luminous glow cast a yellow gleam over her lenses, as she stared hard at the enemies who stood aghast at what was before them. The mesmerizing light before their demise, "**Nenshō Akari!**"

A wall of light seemed to travel instantaneously after being declared, wafting over the bodies of all three Arrancars. Flesh ripped off, turning into dust, with their bones and muscles crumbling before the might of the powerful Kidō. Even as the octagonal shape beam of light carried across the battlefield, it'd crash into a dune and carve a hole into its side, continuing its way before petering out in the horizon.

"_I can't let up for a second! Skilled soldiers or not, these Arrancar are more powerful than any Hollow I've faced,_" Nanao thought with frown, rising back up to a standing posture once again.

Reaching into the fold of her kosode, she bowed her head gravely, feeling a malicious presence charge at her from behind as she withdrew the object from its container. By the time it reached her position, a click and swift unsheathing motion followed as she whispered under her breath, "**Obstruct All Hostility and Cut Through Opposition!**"

When a purple light arced around the point where an enemy's broadsword was cleaving downwards, the weapon found itself cut clean in half, including half of the skull through the Arrancar's eye sockets. Gurgling as it fell to the ground, Nanao's weapon was revealed in all of its glory. A gladius in her right hand, colored silver with an intricate cloud shaped guard; meanwhile her left arm was affixed with a shield, a scabbard holster held within its inner hollow frame.

"**Kōken**," She declared as she saw the enemy fall into a bloody heap before her feet.

Dozens of meters away, Kiyone and Sentarō found themselves back-to-back with enemies circling around them. They breathed heavily, having been pressured away from the rest of the experienced Lieutenants and to a place isolated from assistance. Even with the aid of Kidō, they weren't able to deal with the pack of Arrancars that decided to take them down.

With swords erect and gripped in their hands, it was Sentarō that took initiative.

"These guys...we can't hold back any longer," Sentarō said in a muttering tone.

"B-But Captain Ukitake says to keep from using our full strength unless the enemy shows their full hand!" Kiyone protested, looking over her shoulder up at the taller man.

"It's not like anyone else is watching! Besides, if we take them down quick enough, they won't know what hit'em, right?!" Sentarō urged on.

"Fine, but we better do it quick!" Kiyone relented, noticing the Arrancars were beginning to charge.

Stabbing his sword into the sand beside his right flank, Sentarō declared as a enormous seven foot tall Arrancar swung a mallet towards him, "**Soar**, **Mōkin**!"

Similarly, Kiyone brandished her sword in dancing gesture over her head, a spray of luminous rainbow light projected from the hilt and arced over in a circle. Twirling around in a pirouette, just as a handful of Arrancars charged her way, her Zanpakutō transformed in a blinding refraction of sparkling pink light, "**Shimmer, Hanaji!**"

In that moment, a brilliant blaze of lime hued Reiatsu erupted from the transforming sword. Just as quickly as the Arrancar had been approaching, a blinding blur of glistening solid steel crashed through the weapon as if it was brittle glass. Cracking the Arrancar's body, it bulldozed into his thick frame and sent him corkscrew into the swathes of enemies that had been behind it. Rising up into the air, it carried its body upwards before letting it drop, doing a spin to higher altitude before nosediving after the Arrancar. By the time the Shinigamified Hollow slammed into the earth below, the transformed Zanpakutō hit it with enough force to drill the body further underground, creating a expansive wave of concussive force to lap over the sand.

At the same instant, Kiyone twirled what looked like a transparent veil of glittering pink silk over her head, hanging on front of her body. When the enemy's weapons struck the surface, it didn't distend but rebound, perfectly repelling the attacks with a spraying shower of orange-crimson sparks. With a crossing of her arms as she took a graceful leap forward, the silk bent and shifted in appearance, forming what looked like a wide array of pointed threads. Becoming like drill-shaped spears, the silken blades cut through the startled Arrancars like butter, burrowing through their Hierro reinforced flesh, leaving their bodies marred and shredded.

When both weapons came back into each other's hands, the both looked over their shoulders at each other with grins of accomplishment.

A silver plated gauntlet resided over Sentarō's right hand, holding up what looked like an enormous V-shaped glider that was nearly as large as he was. With the colored painting of blue and black etched along its body, with eyes near the pointed section of the V and feathers upon its frame, one could picture it as a mock form of a bird. With retractable handles on either side running along each partition, two oval rises that looked to be exhaust ports of some sort lied on the farthest ends of the weapon.

For Kiyone, pair of golden bracelets were tied around her wrists just behind the gloves worn over her hands. Leading up to loop golden links of chains through two holes attached to the bendable fabric of pink colored silk, it fluttered and hung in the middle of space with no effort shown on Kiyone's part. With both of their Zanpakutōs unleashed, the two set out to continue the fight, of which showed sign of numbers on the Vanguard's part to be dwindling.

It was during this moment, that the real enemies revealed themselves to the Shinigami and their allies.

A high-pitched whistling could be heard, flourishing forth a near invisible projectile crossed the air, piercing Isane's right shoulder. Even as the transparent weapon passed through, the force of which it struck the sand before them was enough to cause an eruption of obliterated landscape. With the Lieutenant's mouth gaping at the sudden pain and attack, she stumbled forward and was narrowly caught by the nearby Momo.

"I-Isane?!" She cried out.

"I'm hit but...I'll be fin-NGH!" Isane insisted, placing her free hand over the shoulder wound, barely able to hear the secondary whistling of another attack. Jerking quickly to the side, she pulled Momo with her to the ground, avoiding a silvery arrow passing over their heads, once again carving through the air with precision and power. Offhandedly it cut through an Arrancar's head, causing it to fall limply to the ground with a blank look in its eyes from the fatal strike.

"Archer! Everyone stay sharp!" Nanao called out, her shield raising up to repel a projectile she had been able to detect heading her way. As she sprinted over, she could see the two 3rd Seats leaping in the air.

"Cover me, Kiyone! I'm going for the sniper!" Sentarō declared with a swing of his glider-adjoined wrist, sending his bird shaped weapon roaring forward. As it honed in on its trajectory, a series of twangs were heard as more silvery arrows were fired. Thankfully to Kiyone's protective woven shield, the arrows did little to disrupt the fabric, shattering the attacks upon impact.

"Got ya!" Sentarō cried out, swinging his fist to the right, causing the V-shaped weapon to spin in the air. Creating a brilliant lime hued drill of air pressure and Reiatsu, the weapon crashed into the vicinity of the attacker, forcing the Arrancar to reveal itself. Flipping forward, it spun through the air with two scimitars in hand. Before it could reach Kiyone's transmuting silk, a brilliant pink-hued fireball thundered upwards. Causing the Arrancar to halt its advance at the last second, it propelled itself down to the ground before the group.

With all gathered before the enemy, the Arrancar couldn't help but chuckle in a sultry tone, "What a batch of Shinigami you are. You truly are elites to have survived my long distance attacks."

"You're different from the rest," Nanao said pointedly, standing at the head of the Shinigami Officers, "what's your story? I saw you dropping your own comrades while trying to hit us. Don't you care if they're caught in the crossfire?"

"It was their mistake for not knowing when to pull back. If they die, they die for Lord Aizen, or so they'd say," The Female Arrancar said with a moist-black lipped grin, being the only thing the conglomeration of Officers could witness. With her upper visage obscured by the shadow of her white hood, white sharp silhouettes painting her eyes an intimidating glowing white was all that could be seen of her pupils. A dark spider shaped tattoo was engraved across her shapely bosom's top, with legs crossing over the mammaries and the body revealing a small hole at its center. With scimitars in either hand, brown threaded hilts with no pommels or guards, she brandished them in smooth circular arcs as she bowed before them, "where are my manners? My name is Sedosa Belleza, formerly the Octava Espada, now a soldier of the Vanguard. Please make this entertaining. I want to make this fight memorable before I gain the rank of an official Espada when this is over."

"_An outcast Espada? Does that make her weaker or on par with the current Espada? Either way this doesn't bode well,_" Nanao deduced as she raised her sword and shield in a readied stance.

"Oh please, Sedosa," A nasal toned Arrancar spoke sarcastically, his form gracefully landing to the group's left. In between his fingers was a silken threaded arrow, one that looked that he caught during the flurry of rapid fire. Snapping it in between his fingers, his dark eye narrowed at her and the Shinigami, "that rank goes to someone far more ambitious and deserving of the rank. Not one who was fallen from grace."

"Patros," Hissed Sedosa, seething with displeasure at seeing the weasely Arrancar appear on her battlefield, "this is my fight. Back off if you want to keep that ugly head of yours."

"I don't think you have a choice. Besides, you are fighting five Shinigami, all of which possess significantly higher than average Reiryoku. Allow me to assist, unless you feel like your chances of beating them is still in your favor?" Patros grinned wryly in a shrewd manner.

"Tch, have it your way," Sedosa said with a twirl of her swords, returning her hallowed gaze back to her enemies, "but if you get in my way, I will kill you."

"Right back at you," Patros said with an amused grin, squatting down and gripping his katana with both hands, "_Privaron_."

* * *

"Did you feel that?" Chōjirō asked, his sword pulling out of a downed Arrancar to look at the distant group of Shinigami Officers.

"Yes," Byakuya said, his sword-hand held aloft, allowing the blossom petals swirl around in a predatory manner before a handful of wounded Arrancars, "it seems they have finally revealed themselves. The real enemies we should be concerned about."

"There's still some waiting behind our sight," Nelliel concurred with a rise up from a number of dead Arrancar, her eyes moving to her left and right as her head craned in the direction of her Pesquisa strongest sense, "they know the stronger members of this Vanguard are approaching. They're waiting this out until we're too tired or wounded to defend ourselves."

"Let them try," Byakuya pulled back his sword, before thrusting it at the barely recovered bounty of Shinigamified Hollows, "we'll cut them down all the same."

It was in this instant as the Arrancars steeled themselves for a quick death, that the projectiles were deflected by a speedy figure. What appeared was a dazzling sight before the trio's eyes. A voluptuous, well endowed woman of transcendent beauty smiled with hands outstretched, only covered by a translucent white cloak that lapsed over her bare yet very visible skin. The dark sash contrasted it but kept her minimally decent, holding her weapon on her hip in a dangling manner, while mask fragments forming a bone-crested crown formed her midnight dyed hair into a ponytail. Pink lips spread into a decadent, alluring smile, as her fists turned around and opened the palms to reveal handfuls of blossom razors.

"So beautiful, aren't they?" She asked coyly, blowing on the blades to dance mesmerizingly back towards the three while she stood in front of the wounded Arrancars.

Stoically glaring, Byakuya said nothing as the blades swirled around his vicinity once again, while Chōjirō took the initiative to ask where Nelliel was too aghast of what she saw and felt, "Who are you?"

"Sverrie Alessi, former Sexta of the Espada," She responded smoothly, brushing her hands enticingly over her beautiful frame, caressing her bosom and hips in a seductive manner while her eyes fixated on Byakuya in particular. A hungry smile worked its way across her face, a tongue slowly ebbing out of her lips to drag across the pink exterior, wettening them. Kissing the air with a puckering pop, she casually placed her palms on her hips and began rolling them in a circle, "though that hardly matters. Soon, you will either be begging to serve me or on the ground begging to live."

As she said such things, Nelliel's form pounced forth, pointing her sword to impale the prior Sexta straight through the barely visible Hollow hole at her abdomen center. Eyes widened and hair lapping at her back, she had abandoned her scabbard halfway to ensure she'd kill this one. For the things she had been said doing while in service to Aizen, she needed to be slain before-

But her blade's mark could not reach her. The face of a double-headed axe swing in a pendulum manner, repelling the thrust of Nel's, followed up with a ramming impact into her sprinting body. With her body flipping head over heels, she couldn't control her fall in time to avoid a follow-up right hook by a behemoth fist. With her body flying straight past the Shinigami, she was helpless to stop her back from crashing into sandy outskirts of the skull engraved crater.

"Wait-!" Chōjirō began to call out, aiming to go assist her as the hulkish attacker pursued after her. But he too was interrupted as an enemy of rapid speed closed the distance between him and his attack. A pair of sickles in hand, Chōjirō had to lean back to avoid the decapitating stroke, swiftly swinging his rapier around in a figure eight arc to catch his arms. It was only the fortunate displeasure to the Lieutenant that he pulled back with a Sonido, briefly allowing Chōjirō to stand upright before leaping back in a mad dash to attack him.

"Ngh! This one is strong, too!" Chōjirō realized vocally, parrying his sword against his nemesis's in a dizzying flurry of sparks and metallic collisions. From what could be seen, the Arrancar's dark hair mirrored his dark, soulless eyes. Grey skinned and fit, the man danced around with his cloak in a flourishment of rapid movement, aiming to swiftly take down his enemy in as short of a timespan as possible.

"What a bore, that Soto Muerte is. Guess it runs with him being a former Segunda, ugly inside as much as that Rana Zolinder," Sverrie commented in a disgusted tone. Sighing, she returned her gaze back to Byakuya, smiling in a way that'd make most men shiver with arousal but did little to move the Kuchiki, "But you're different, aren't you handsome?"

"Your attempt of flattery isn't amusing, Arrancar," Byakuya said coldly, raising his sword hilt to point at Sverrie's direction, causing the rose petals to form a compressed blade-shaped mass. Shrieking out, it rushed forward, missing the Arrancar but cutting down the one to her left. Adjusting his wrist to point to the left, the petals shifted in shape and transformed into a drill that spiraled after her. Shredding the other Arrancars, Sverrie frolicked away in a blur of motion, racing towards Byakuya till she arrived just a hair's breath away.

"You're all mine!~" She sang as her hand thrust out towards him, but felt nothing solid as her eyes blinked. His body evaporating from in front but behind her, she felt a pair of fingers touch her back and a whisper that made her heart skip a beat.

"Hadō #1, Shō!"

With a pulse of kinetic force at point blank range, Sverrie felt herself pushed off balance and forward, sent into a tumbling roll across the sand to land in a unceremonious heap on the ground. Barely able to pull herself off the ground as a storm of razors dove into the sandy grain, ripping apart the land to get to her, she had to twirl and leap farther away to avoid a number of lightning bolts sent her way. By the time the assault ceased, she smirked and crouched before her enemy.

"I like you," She said with a pur, "the ones that struggle are always the best ones to turn, after all!~"

On the far corner of the skull engraved battlefield, Nelliel had a far less attractive enemy to deal with.

"Sin!" Nel shouted, barely able to backpedal away from a double-handed swing of his axe, side-tumbling away from the cutting fissure that followed. Seeing it rip apart a half kilometer stretch of sandy wastes caused her to gulp audibly as she returned to a fighting stance. When the axe came back around, she barely repelled the cutting edge with her own, feeling her body skid back several meters from the exertion.

"**_Why are you assisting Shinigami, Tres Nel?! Why have you betrayed the Espada?! I thought you were better than this!_**" Sin snarled behind his croc fragment jaw, his eyes aglow with tangible anger.

"I've found someone to fight for, someone precious to my heart! I can't give that up, not even for Lord Aizen!" Nel admitted unashamed, even as Sin swung a fist over her head, returning a kick to his jaw before palming his chest.

Staggering only a meter, Sin shook his head as he rammed his shoulder into Nelliel's body. Sent awry into a trench of sand, she was helpless to halt the downward executionary blow sent by Sin. Before that stroke, he yelled with disappointment in his voice, "**_I thought you were different, but I was wrong. Farewell, Tres Espada!_**"

A loud clang of the metal hitting a solid wall of organic dense tissue rang out in the air. Blinking, Sin was surprised to see it was the human of the group blocking his axe with his shield-formed arm. The towering croc Arrancar strained his weapon but couldn't make him budge, even as Nelliel rose to her feet, sword in hand and readied to continue fighting.

"Sorry," Aaron-Chad murmured, his eyes barely visible behind his dark bangs, "but I'm afraid you're going to be fighting the both of us."

"**_It doesn't matter. In the end you all will be executed in the name of Lord Aizen!_**" Sin shouted, retracting the blade from Aaron-Chad's arm before pulling it back and raising a arm to prime a Cero in the center of his palm, "**_now stay still and die in his name!_**"

"**El Directo!**" Aaron-Chad thrust without hesitation, shooting off a plume of Reishi from his fist while his shoulder jet stream the excess force.

"What?!" Sin exclaimed as the cerulean pillar of energy met and matched his crimson blaze of Reishi. With both forces clashing and swirling into a maelstrom of negative currents, the two exploded, sending all three sprawling away from each other.

"_That power...is like a Hollow's! What kind of human is he?!_" Sin asked in bewilderment in his mind, his eyes blinking as he rose from the sandy trench carved in the ground. Shaking his head, he growled, discharging a thick aura of Reiatsu from him. Pulse after pulse shook the land, his garments and skin rippled as much as the sand did with the concussive shocks his power radiated within the land. Raising axe to bear with both hands, he declared openly, "**_in the name of Lord Aizen, I will vanquish all enemies and obstructions to his plans! You will perish by my hand, Privaron Espada and Human!_**"

* * *

**A/N:** 4:21AM...yeah, I wrote way too late on this, but I wanted to make sure it was done THIS WEEK and not procrastinate into the next one. I really hope it was all worth it cause I feel accomplished on some level.

Yeah, this Chapter was great to write out. My first shot at a real team brawl/battle. I tried real hard to capture the element of panning over from one perspective to the other, keeping everyone in the same battlefield without excluding them entirely. Even with the introduction of personal opponents I wanted to make sure as many people got a piece of the action as possible. Even Nel got a shot at fighting another baddie, with assistance, because she's too awesome to leave out!

I tried to make the first generation of the Espada's designs as original as possible. I know there are a lot of Fanon concepts for the Tertiary Espada, but I'd like to hear what you thought of their appearances, as brief as they were, and what you'd like to see from them.

Szayel and Mayuri. To tell you the truth, I had the most fun writing out their section. Just the whole reimagining of their contact with each other was just FUN to write. Even Szayel confessing to being part of the scheme to overthrow Nel and leave her for dead, I just liked having someone so arrogant as Szayel admit that. Hoped everyone enjoyed the additions I made to it, including Nemu kicking ass!

If anyone wants to know the names of the Kidō and Zanpakutōs revealed in this Chapter, please PM me, and I'll be happy to send the translations to you :)

Until then, I'll see you all in the next update of **_A Predator Among Us_**! Merry Christmas to you all! :D

**SPECIAL NOTE:** To people who may be wondering about Nelliel's organic clock that may or may not be ticking, I want to clear up something. The Character, Child Nel, is gone. She was a temporary form that Nelliel adopted to rejuvenate her Reiryoku and heal her old wound. The Character as of now, Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck, is the character that's going to remain until the end of this series. If anyone has a problem with Nellielx Ichigo, you don't need to read any farther. There's a Mario Cannon waiting for you at the exit to take you far away from this Story because no one wants to hear you bitch and moan in the comment section because you had nothing else to say about a story that focuses very little on that relationship dynamic.

For people who WANT to keep reading, please take heart what I say was for the best and that Nelliel will not sporadically, if not trollingly, jump back into a kid again. Cause that will be weird for everybody. Including me. So until then, I'll see you all concerned readers on the next update


	7. A Dark Sky's Rain

**The Sky darkens**

**Lightning Falls Like Rain**

**The Sky Falls Through The Dark Clouds of Thunder**

**Swords Clash and the Sandy Sea Parts Under Their Feet**

* * *

**White Palace, Throne Room**

* * *

It was all before his gaze. Every battlefield, every action, and every casualty was before the Leader of the Arrancar Army. With a mug of tea in his right hand, steam ebbing into the darkened room that caught the floating screens' gleam, and another pressed against his leaning left jaw. A content smile spread across his face, his eyes filled with the many images shifting and presented before his vision.

On one side was the allied forces. Culminating from Ryoka who do Kisuke Urahara's bidding, Shinigami who act on the aging Captain Commander's orders or go against him in favor of following their friends into the lion's den; as well as his alive and well former Tres Espada, Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck. It amused and intrigued him how they all banded together against him, using means of which they themselves didn't become aware of or put together at the last moment.

On the other was the Vanguard. A collaboration of imprisoned dissenters, in-fighting rogues, and Privaron Espada. The one who openly challenged his decision of replacing her and her colleagues with the stronger successors, Rana Zolinder, appeared to have made the most remarkable comeback. Most of her allies, whether they knew it or not, were observed with keen eyes that saw more than simply a desire to win.

It was a desire to return from the fall of grace they all received.

"I see your project succeeded after all, Szayelaporro Granz," Sosuke spoke softly to himself, briefly pausing his voiced out thoughts with a sip of tea. Setting the mug down, he continued as he reclined further back in his seat, watching the Privaron Primera lock blades with the Ryoka boy he nearly killed on Sokyoku Hill. "by taking samples of Menos tissue, rapidly grow and then condense it into a capsule form you were able to make a remarkable breakthrough. Your FEED pills have become a vital ingredient into increasing the strength of my army. The Vanguard, those of irrelevant strength, are proving that as they fight significant obstacles that have defeated half of my Espada."

Looking back up at the screen, noticing a number of the other Privaron combat the other allies, he noticed the one named Rukia Kuchiki. He watched her dance gracefully within the air, avoiding invisible arms that lashed out and try to ensnare her. As her movements came close, she attempted to get close in on Angelle, only for the latter to evade with her own retreating motions.

A knowing smile revealed pearly white teeth, his hand reaching out to the console at his left armrest.

"Kaname," Aizen called.

"_Yes, Lord Aizen?_"

"Are the forces prepared?" He inquired.

"_All except the Upper Four, Captain._"

"Please do and fetch them. I wouldn't want them to miss what comes next," Aizen ordered with a calm tone.

"_Understood..._"

"Something the matter?" The White General asked with a slight angled turn of his head.

"_Ulquiorra Cifer is still out of contact._"

"Still trapped in the Negacion, hm? That's alright," Aizen clasped his hands in front of his face, hiding his visage below the bridge of his nose. While his eyes reflected the many oscillating images switching before him, he continued speaking, "we can manage without him. After all, there is a probability that the Vanguard will fall to Kisuke and Yamamoto's forces here. Between him and Yammy, Las Noches will be in better hands than a roving band of dissidents."

"_And if the Vanguard do best their enemies?_"

"Then Ulquiorra can do as he sees fit with them. If he wants them to join us, we'll be expecting reinforcements. If not, then they served their purpose," Aizen coldly retracted his entwined digits, placing one on the left armrest and the other to retrieve his mug.

"_Understood. I'll send out the order for their presence here at once._"

With the audio cut between General and Commander, the prior raised his cup to his lips. Pausing his drink to lock eyes on the screen of Rukia's face, he widened his grin before taking a sip. Setting down the cup, he spoke to himself with a sense of revelling, "Soon, the curtains will fall, and my time to move will come. When it does, my use for this world will be at an end...as well as all those who serve me."

* * *

**CHAPTER 7**

**A Dark Sky's Rain**

* * *

"Let me out of here!" Lilynette snarled, ramming her shoulder into the golden barrier. But, just as the last two dozen times, she felt a sharp pain as a bright electric discharge of repulsion knocked her back on her side. Grimacing, she looked up and saw a distant glimmer of light, followed by another one. The more significant lights sent waves of sand rolling over the dunes, thundering or shaking the ground beneath their feet.

Ever since Ichigo took charge, their fights gradually shifted away from their midst and just over the horizon. Much to her dismay, Nelliel went after them, joined by a host of unmistakably Shinigami signatures. To her relief, she had yet to feel her Reiatsu decline, but she couldn't tell for how long.

Turning back on her heels, she looked at the originator of the protective dome covering their heads. With a childish glare, she pointed at Orihime and then outside, "Didn't you hear me, dumbass?! I said to let me out!"

"No," Orihime said calmly, her eyes overshadowed by her bangs, hiding what emotion that she was feeling. "we need to stay here."

"What?! And hide like cowards?! No way!" Lilynette stamped her feet indignantly, balling up her fists, raising them up towards the human girl. "I don't know about you, but I'm not backing from a fight! Not when a friend I had lost has just returned! So let me out or I'll-!"

"What can you do?" Orihime asked softly.

"W-What?" Lilynette answered aghast, not expecting the retort from the girl.

"What can either of us do?" Orihime asked again, though the quivering in her lips looked more apparent. Raising her face, tears welled up in her eyes as she pulled her knees close to her face, wrapping her arms around herself in a pathetic way. "I-Ichigo told us t-to stay. Nelliel wouldn't want you going out anymore than he would."

"Yeah, but-!"

"This is the only thing I can do! Stay behind and keep people safe! Ichigo wants it, and that's what I'm doing! He doesn't need me when...when...when he has someone like her beside him!" Orihime hiccuped as she continued to ramble, causing the young Arrancar's features to soften. Looking toward the horizon where the explosions were the fiercest, carrying over in wind that wrapped waves of sands around her dome of rejecting energy, she could feel the one her heart ached over. Turning her head so her face could be buried into her crossed arms and huddled knees, she mumbled out, "I'm just a burden. The only reason he came here is because I didn't trust my friends to be alright. That fear of them being lost crippled my faith in them. What's more, I was too afraid to tell the man I loved how I felt!"

Looking down in a solemn manner, Lilynette heard Orihime sniffle a little while longer before hearing her final words, "No. We're staying here so we don't get in the way. I-It's not much but it's something. The least we can do is not be more bothering than already have been."

Silence befell the two as more distant explosions were seen and heard. As the shockwaves sent howling winds to caress or shake the barrier, Lilynette kept her gaze fixated on Orihime. For the longest time she reflected on what was said, and looked at her own hands. Gripping and unfolding her hands, she narrowed her eye at Orihime.

"You're not weak," Lilynette spoke firmly.

"W-What?" Orihime raised her head, blinking away her tears.

"Are you deaf? I said you're not weak," Lilynette said confidently, throwing her arm around in emphasis.

"B-But...I mean...Ichigo said-"

"Forget what that Shinigami said and listen to what I have to say!" Lilynette rebuked, causing Orihime to recoil and bat her eyes rapidly at the adolescent appearing Arrancar. Taking a stamping step forward, she pointed at her with meaning as she continued to bark. "I dunno anything about your relationship problems or what led you here in the first place but I can tell you by just looking that you aren't weak! I know I don't have power like the rest, but that's fine by me. But you?! Do you even know where you've been and who've you spoken to?!"

"H-Huh?" Orihime blinked with confusion. Her mind became flooded with comedic question marks, flowing around on a background of white as her head blew a wind of emptiness through her ears.

"Who did Aizen send to get you? A Numeros? An Experimental Hollow? He sent Ulquiorra! He's one of Aizen's strongest and his most loyal subordinate in all of the Espada! I heard from Starrk that you entered the Throne Room and how calm you were. You didn't even flinch until you saw Aizen. Do you realize how freakin' strong they are?! Their combined Reiatsu didn't even register to you until you noticed Aizen's overshadowing the rest," Lilynette said with certainty, her face twisted in a look of frustration as if what she spoke should have been apparent. Seeing the dumbfounded look on Orihime's face was proof enough that she had no idea. Smiling that her words got through to her, she placed her hands on her hips and stuck up her chest as she yelled further, "that means you, a human, are somehow on par with the Espada. I don't know where you hide your strength Orihime, but I can tell you one thing that goes against what you've been told by everyone else. You! Are! Not! Weak!"

It was like a hammer shattered the house of mirrors inside her head. Orihime's arms fell to her side and her mouth hung open dumbly as wide as her eyes stretched. She never considered being able to stand among strong, imposing people as a sign of strength. Back in the World of the Living, she thought Ichigo's power was the only thing that mattered, but ever since she departed she hadn't felt any strength other than from Aizen. Even as Ichigo grew in strength, there didn't feel a gap between them. She had been watching without feeling his strength encompassing hers.

Was her weakness all just an illusion she fabricated in her head?

"Boy, you're so clueless I swear you and Nelliel could compete for the airhead game," Lilynette sighed in an aggravated tone, rubbing the bridge of her nose as her visible eye clenched tight.

It was during the sound of another explosion that masked one that happened all around them. A bright, vibrant hue of crimson overcast caused both girls within to raise their arms to shield their eyes from the flash of light. Even as the orange-yellow tongues licked at the exterior of the barrier, it did little to damage it as the sand billowed away and showed down over the repulsion field.

"Fuckin' great! That field is tough to not even be rattled by a Cero!" A harsh, feminine voice cried out from a dozen meters away.

Blinking away the stars in her vision, Orihime tried to peer through the haze of heat created by the explosion. While it did little to strain her or the shield, it was enough to give her a near heart attack. A pair of figures was clear, slender and familiar, enough to give her the chills at hearing such a unforgettable voice.

"I know that voice," Lilynette voiced Orihime's own thoughts, but did more than simply stand down. She kept on her feet and raised a hand to wave indignantly at the source, "Loly! Are you trying to kill me or what?!"

"Hey, is that who I think it is?" Another voice muttered aloud, almost deafened by another cascading wave of pressure from a distant explosion.

With two pairs of feet sprinting up to get a closer look at the barrier, the couple halted a good meter away. To the observers' left they could see Menoly, the slicked back blonde haired Arrancar with a hollow mask fragment and hole over her right eye. On Menoly's left was the livid Loly, who's own mask hole resembled her companion in a uncanny way. Her black pigtails practically rose up and down with every breath, her petite hands balled up with pent up aggression for the one behind the dome.

The one that disgusted her to no end.

"Well-Well-Well. If it isn't the Primera's brat? You're a long way from your lofty quarters, ain't ya?!" Loly spoke with a sneering tone, tilting her head up at an angle to show her disdain towards them.

"Shut up!" Lilynette snapped back, leaning forward with a stomp, holding up her left fist with indignation at the Numeros, "I can go wherever I want! I don't need Starrk's permission to walk around in Las Noches. Least of all from the likes of Aizen's pets!"

"Shut your trap, kid!" Loly barked back, her own eye practically bulging with greater anger than she could control.

"G-Get a hold of yourself, Loly," Menoly tried to console, raising her hands up to dissuade from what looked like one of many times, "we shouldn't be doing this. That's Lilynette Gingerbuck. She's like a kid sister to Starrk. If she gets involved with what you're planning-"

"Then it's her dumbass fault, now isn't it?!" Loly snarled, turning around to backhand the other Arrancar across the face. Sending her falling back onto her haunches, she didn't even bother wiping the blood her knuckles drew from the abusive strike. Turning back to sneer at Orihime, she pounded her fist into the shield, hissing as her punch rebounded from the shield, "come out, you witch! I'm going to make you regret what you did! Accept your fate!"

Lilynette could only glare past the film of gold that kept them apart. She had no idea why this particular Arrancar was upset. Was it really because she stole Aizen's attention while she was here? She knew that two were personal aides to their benefactor, but was there anything more to it?

Looking over her shoulder, she could see Orihime keeping her kneeling posture. Her eyes stared with resolution and composure she knew herself couldn't have. Her silver-grey eyes weren't moved by the threats and angry disposition of the Arrancar. Whatever bad blood that arose between them, Orihime seemed aware of it but didn't relent under the pressure.

"_I don't get it_," Lilynette thought as her sole pink eye stared at Orihime's unbreakable visage of determination, "_earlier she was blubbering like a sad idiot. Now she's being taunted and threatened, she's not even budging. Is she trying to do some form of passive aggression? She just gives whole new meaning to the word strange, though it could be just because she's human_..."

The sound of metal grating out of a scabbard caught her attention, causing her to turn back to see Loly armed with a tantou. Seeing it in her possession caused her to blink inquisitively, trying to wrap her mind around how she even carried the weapon. When the realization dawned on her, she almost gagged in knowing reflex.

"Loly! Stop!" Menoly called from her haunches, on the verge of standing up but too terrified of what her compatriot was about to do. "think about what you're doing! Aizen could be watching you, right now!"

"If he was, do you think she'd have replaced us?!" Loly cried out, the sight of angry tears being made known to her and those watching on with bewilderment. "I...I felt important being by Aizen's side. He made us feel special...and...and...and this _freakshow _stole that from us!"

Pointing her weapon at Orihime, it caused Lilynette to glower and Orihime to recoil from such vile anger pointed at her. For some reason, she couldn't help but pity her, that she stole something without even meaning to. Her anger was unjustified but her feelings were nonetheless hurt.

"I-" Orihime tried to speak, but doing so only caused Loly's disposition to turn from bitter grief to pure rage.

"DON'T YOU DARE SAY A WORD!" Loly shrieked. Thrusting her dagger forward, she turned ninety degrees to the right, placing her left palm over the pommel. With a further snarl, her body became emblazoned with a thick purple aura of Reiatsu that sent howling winds pistoning around her limbs.

"**Poison, Escolopendra!**" With a shout, Loly's body took a dramatic transformation. Arms twisted and extended with grotesque snaps, forming what appeared to be tendrils coming out of tall bones sitting atop her shoulders. Cracking, the limbs became akin to a centipede's, with hundreds of tiny clawed toes running up and down along their mass. Similar aesthetic changes were made to her revealing wardrobe, forming clawed fingers revealing a line of supple skin from her neck down to her navel. Carapace leggings adorned her lithe legs, while rings of mask fragments looped over her head and pigtails, giving her a menacing appearance.

"Eugh, gross!" Lilynette recoiled, finding the appearance that Loly took to be repulsive to her eye.

"Let's see how that shield of yours handles this!" Loly snidely commented with a devilish grin. With a step forward, she twirled one of her long tentacles in a side sweeping stroke to the dome. Despite the obvious amount of muscle packed within the limb, it did little more than cause an audible clap against the shield.

"Heh!" Lilynette smirked with a sigh of relief, jabbing a finger at Loly, "you talk tough, but you're not getting through this barrier if all you have is bigger arms!"

"Is that so?" Loly asked with a sinister grin stretched across her face.

A noxious smell followed by bubbling liquid once again redirect the young Arrancar's ears. Looking hesitantly over, she withdrew a few steps with horror at what she saw. In the exact shape of the tendril's outline was a viscous mass of acidic goo, melting and eating away at the surface of the repelling energy. Within seconds the golden shell shattered around the area of impact, making it all the less impenetrable that she believed it to be.

"My power allowed me to apply toxic excretions from my tentacles," Loly began to explain, raising her rightmost limb over her head, allowing to arch over and touch the ground five meters behind her feet, "they eat away and corrode anything they come into contact with. Flesh, stone, sand, steel, even Reishi!"

Another clap of insect-like flesh crashing over their heads, causing a dark obscuring veil of bubbling poison to form over their heads. Cracks webbed over the dome's top, spreading in a straight line over where Orihime knelt. Seeing this caused the girl to buckle and try to scurry away from the imminent rain of acidic liquid.

"Die, you bitch!" Loly shouted with murderous glee.

Just as a hand-sized piece of slime began to peter down towards Orihime's head, Lilynette kicked off the sand and tackled her through the backside of the protective shield. To her luck, they were able to easily break through the rearmost section of the dome, its defensive integrity already collapsing with two major breaks in its field, shattering into pieces soon after. But to her chagrin, a small dribble of poison managed to latch over her left bicep.

"NGH!" Lilynette grunted with pain, biting her lower lip hard enough to draw blood. She didn't want to scream. She didn't want to give her enemy that satisfaction.

"Lilynette!" Orihime cried, her eyes wide with alarm at seeing the girl hover over her with an obviously painful wound.

"Be quiet, you idiot!" Lilynette hissed, keeping her hand barely from touching the affected wound. Beads of sweat already ebbed around her face as she tried to fight back against the pain that flooded through her body. Shakily standing up to her feet, her body stumbled back and forth, thick rivulets of purple smoke rising up from her flesh as arm slowly became overwhelmed by the acidic goo.

"How does that feel, brat?! Soon that slime is going to spread, not just eating away your arm but the rest of your body. Nothing will be left!" Loly cackled madly, her eye sporting crimson veins webbing out from her single pink iris.

"W-Why are you hurting her?!" Orihime cried out, hurriedly standing to her feet while raising her hands up, clenched into fists of helplessness, "if its me you want, then attack me. Don't hurt someone so much weaker, let alone who doesn't deserve it!"

"Why shouldn't I?" Loly asked in a level, cold tone. As distant explosions thundered in the distance, sending fierce winds to blow over the sandy wasteland, the Numeros dragged her tentacles behind her. In her wake was a thick aura of poisonous smoke, while the sand itself bubbled, slowly distending the grains downwards behind Loly's armored feet.

"B-Because she isn't the one you're angry at! I'm the one who made you mad. I don't know why, but I'll allow you to harm me if you just leave her alone!" Orihime proclaimed, swinging her arms to either side as she bravely stepped forward.

Loly couldn't help but gasp, her eye widening with disbelief, twitching erratically. She questioned what she heard for a few moments, let alone what she saw. With her face contorting in between anger and understandable confusion, she uttered aloud in a barely audible voice, "What...did you...say?"

"Keep her out of this! Take my life instead of hers! She doesn't need to die for me, let alone anyone else!" Orihime said bravely, continuing to walk forward with arms outstretched, moving past the trembling Lilynette while her eyes kept locked on the deranged attacker. Stopping a good five meters away, she stared ahead, speaking in a solemn tone, "no more hiding. No more running away. I'm taking responsibility for myself and not letting anyone else get in the way. If you want to hurt me, hurt me. If you want me to suffer, I'll suffer. If you want me to die...then..._I'll die_."

Silence swallowed the point of conflict of the four women. A stoic look of resolve shined vibrantly over Orihime Inoue's face. A hidden look of awe was shown over Lilynette Gingerbuck's visage as she struggled to stay standing without screaming outright. Menoly Mallia stared in wonderment at the girl who was ready to forfeit her life, feeling a foreign surge of guilt choke at her throat and swell in her stomach. Loly Aivirrne looked petrified, as a flash of emotions crossed her eyes and quivering lips.

Her face crumbled, tears threatened to spill from her eye once again, while teeth chattered within her jaw. Tendrils began flailing around her as she heaved heavy breaths, not comprehending what was happening in front of her. There was no way a witch like her could be so selfless. Her power to bring back lives was meant to torture the afflicted, not save them. She wasn't compassionate; humans hated hollows and she hated humans.

"No! NO-NO-NO-NO-NO-NO!" Loly shouted at the top of her lungs, her tentacles smashing the ground around her, causing gouts of purple smog to spew up as bubbling slime overlapped the sand around her. A look of crazed anger flashed across her eye as she glared at Orihime once again. Shrieking with abject emotion, she flailed her tentacles around her threateningly, "there's no way you'd give up your life to me so willingly! I tortured you! I tried to kill you, and I'm still trying! You're no saint, you're a witch! I'm going to put an end to this farce and make sure you can't look at me so pityingly aga-guh!"

Within her tirade, a head-sized ball of energy rocketed forward, slamming into her face. With her body jerking back a couple feet out of shock more than pain, the sound of an explosion was sounded right around the same time. Barely able to shake away the ringing sensation blurring her vision, she saw Lilynette standing, half of her arm scorched as if it was marred by a fire. No sign of her slime was seen, as her left arm twitched and spasmed from pain of the newfound burn that was received.

"What the Hell happened?! Where did the poison go?!" Loly asked with a contortion of renewed anger donning over her face.

"I used a piece of myself to burn it away," Lilynette admitted grimly, sweat caking her face and body as a sign of exertion. "I'm not as good as Starrk, but I can do what he does on a smaller scale. If your poison eats up everything, even Reishi, then I'd have to use part of my soul to make it disappear!"

"Your soul?" Loly asked incredulously, on the verge of disregarding everything the diminutive Arrancar said.

"That's right," Lilynette nodded, reaching up with her good arm to palm the air over her hornless side of her mask. Digging her fingers into the recess, as if it was hollow from within, she pulled out a long, oblong guarded scimitar, gripping the katana hilt hard as she held it one handed defiantly at the Numeros. Gritting her teeth, she employed Sonido with a forward leap, moving herself towards Loly with weapon in hand, "I don't care if I'm weak! I'm not letting you hurt Orihime because you're sick in the head!"

"Lilynette, don't!" Orihime reached out with alarm crossing her features.

"Stupid kid!" Loly sneered, seeing Lilynette swing her blade towards her as if it was in slow motion. Even her lumbering tentacle seemed to move like a quick drawn sword, as Lilynette's body hung in mid-charge, unable to stop what was coming. Crashing into her blade with enough force to shatter it into pieces, the rest of the insectoid limb cut and rammed into Lilynette's upper body.

"GULK!" Lilynette gurgled out amidst a gasp, feeling the wind knocked out of her as her body was sent flying backwards. Her back skipped across the sand, flipping head over heels before being halted by a swiftly manifested Santen Kesshun. Sliding down, the Arrancar's skin soon bubbled up a thick gas of toxic fumes, spewed forth as the slime began to eat away at her chest, arms, and neck. Such intense imbuement of toxins was put into her body that foam began to spurt up from her mouth, coating her chin and lips as her eye spastically looked side to side in a fit of intoxicated panic.

"LILYNETTE!" Orihime screamed, feeling her hands reach up to cup over her mouth.

"Tch, serves the brat right," Loly growled, twirling her tendrils around her body as she slowly approached Orihime from behind. Seeing the girl's shoulders heave as sobs echoed from her mouth, her hands barely keeping it muffled. Glaring disdainfully, she raised a tendril over her head, hissing with promise, "don't worry. She may die in a minute or two, but I'll make sure you both go to Hell together!"

It was during the moment the insectoid muscle rushed down to slam over their bodies that something snapped in Orihime's mind. Like a twig crushed between two delicate fingers, an ominous silhouette shadowed over the young Inoue's face, only showing pinpricks for pupils. The sight of someone about to die, the knowing of an imminent threat coming to claim her life and someone she cherished. It was the redundant bell that rang every time a friend of hers came to save her, bailing her out, keeping her from harm.

But there was no rescue. They were all busy fighting, keeping the dangerous enemies away. They couldn't come for her this time. A crazed woman was going to kill her and this innocent young girl. Something she kept repressed, a pot of boiled emotions that has simmered and swelled within her over the months finally reached its breaking point.

She finally had enough!

Just shy a foot away from Orihime's orange blonde hair emitted a golden shockwave of pressure that flashed from her body. Like a hammer hitting a ragdoll, Loly found her eye widened as a wall of force rebounded her limb and bludgeoned into her body. Carried along with a visible elliptical wave of transparent energy, the Numeros found herself flipping head over heel before crashing onto her back.

"What...the fuck...just happened?!" Loly choked out with surprise, feeling an enormous weight overlap her body. Barely able to push herself up onto her haunches, she saw a distant Menoly pale at what she saw. Straining her neck, she barely turned her face around before a wave of cycloning sand pounded into her face. Raising a tendril over her eye, she peered past her enormous limb to see something that caused cold sweat to crawl down all exposed skin on her body.

Orihime was slowly standing to her feet, her cape and hair whipping around her body wildly as she stood within the apex of what looked like a twister of sand. It obscured her visage in a silhouette of gold and white, the prior being a shining light that bristled over the latter linen that hugged her curvesque frame. Her hands balled up into fists, shaking with her shoulders, sparkling tears flowing into the torrent of spiraling grains and wind that flowed around her.

"_This Reiatsu...it...I've never felt anything like it!_" Loly thought aghast, her eye shrinking into a dot as she stared at the avatar of emotion that brought up a power she didn't know dwelled within her. "_it's like I'm standing in the presence of an Espada...a strong one! What...what the Hell is she?! Is she really a human?!_"

"HOW COULD YOU?!"

Hearing that shriek caused Loly to practically shrink at what turned its head at her. Gone were the gentle yet immovable silver grey eyes. Now were pupiless golden pools of light, glowing brighter than the aura that radiated off her cream silken body. Teeth bared, cheeks stained with tears, she stood beside a shield entombed Lilynette. As she fixated her attention to her, the sign of poison and damage to Lilynette Gingerbuck began to unravel like a hand on a clock.

"I GAVE YOU MY WORD I'D LET YOU HAVE YOUR WAY WITH ME! I ONLY WANTED YOU NOT TO HURT ANYONE ELSE! I ASKED ONE THING AND YOU COULDN'T HELP YOURSELF!" Orihime bellowed in a tone that seemed inhuman, coming from her. Her voice echoed across the sand, giving her the personification of an angry goddess looking down at a lowly mortal. It was everything that Loly could fear...and loathed at the same time. She sneered as Orihime raised a hand towards her in a condemning fashion, "I'M GOING TO MAKE SURE YOU DON'T HURT ANYONE ELSE AGAIN, YOU HORRIBLE PERSON!"

"Go ahead and try, you-!" Loly began to bite back, forcing herself up to her feet, finding it nearly impossible to stand upright before the whirlwind of Reiatsu that choked her. Like iron weights culminating with a oxygen robbing atmosphere, she felt her words leave her as soon as they came. Wheezes left her open mouth as she stared incredulously at her nemesis.

Twisting her face into a snarl, she swung her limb back before throwing it forward with a purposeful step forward.

"**Koten Zanshun!**"

Only to find a streak of light rip through the vortex of wind, splitting through her hurtling tentacle. Her eye shakily turned to look at her arm, watching one half split off from the shoulder and collapse beside itself on the ground. The part that was still connected to her, bled profusely to the point where it showered onto the severed half.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Loly screamed in horror, finding herself almost collapse to her knees with agony. It felt like molten metal had dipped over her entire limb, making her wounded tendril writhe in the air as much as the split part spastically grind itself into the sand, creating a thick smog of toxic smoke around it.

"_I-I couldn't even see that attack. Was that Kidō? Reishi? What tore through Loly's arm like that?_" Menoly thought with bewilderment, finding herself straining to push herself off the sand with both hands. She heard a faint whizzing over her head, causing her to look up, setting her sight on what looked like a black-red colored insect. Seeing it return to fly swiftly around Orihime under the cover of the whirling sand, her mouth dropped open as realization dawned upon her, "_that tiny thing...was her weapon?_"

"You...You...You WITCH!" Loly screamed, raising her good left tendril to point at Orihime. A faint, crackling orb of purple light formed on the extended limb, the makings of a Cero underway. With an eye on the verge of disappearing behind white hot rage, she chanted out loud, "I'll kill you! Kill you! Kill! Kill-Kill-Kill-Kill-Kill-Kill-_**KILL YO**_-_**!**_"

She found herself halted just short as another streak of bifurcating light lanced through the orb of Reishi. With a choked squeal of indignant pain, Loly shrieked as her arm was split in half identically to the other. Another gout of smoke rose up as the sand bubbled viscously, while copious amounts of blood showered over the limb. Only this time, it had been too much for her to resist.

Unable to find breath beyond the pain, Loly dropped to her knees, slamming her face into the ground before her. Tears leaked out of her single eye as she tried to desperately draw in breath. It felt like the aura Orihime projected was going to strangle the life out of her, after crippling her with a mere two blows.

"_I'm...so...pathetic!_" Loly thought with an angry clench of her eye, grinding her face into the sand. She wished she could disappear, burrow her disgraceful body out of sight and mind. This abomination, something she couldn't call human or anything she'd recognize, offered her unholy compassion and kindness where she showed none. And then, when she refused it, she was effortlessly cut down, crushed underfoot and looked down upon. "_just kill me! I know you want to! I deserve it after all, right?!_"

The howl of the wind roared all around her as the Reiatsu of her enemy pulled her down like gravity. Every second that passed for the Numeros prolonged her injuries, making time itself pain incarnate. She ground her molars together impatiently, her body practically writhing as she wished to bury herself into the sand and disappear like the pathetic creature she was.

Orihime's eyes bored into the hateful creature who sought nothing but her own suffering and the suffering of those she cared about. Her emotions swirled within her like a maelstrom, like the roaring air that siphoned around her. But now, after hurting her, making her scream out in pain she felt a familiar pang within. Her heart felt regretful but her stomach churned with righteous fury for what the girl had done and attempted to do.

Looking down at the slowly waking Lilynette, Orihime's gaze returned back to the ironically bowing Loly. Breathing slowly she began to reign in control over herself. The wind, in sync with her breath, died down to a gentle breeze till the sound of the distant battles became audible once more. The Reiatsu was still there, just as the golden aura flourished over her like a shine of transparent armor.

She didn't want to make the mistake of lowering her guard.

"I'm letting you go now," Orihime spoke out loud, causing the writhing Arrancar to stiffen and become still with attentiveness, "I never wanted to harm you from the start. I think you knew that, even while you tried to humiliate and hurt me. But you hurt someone who was innocent, not involved, and someone I can call a friend. I couldn't forgive that and now you're paying the price.

"If I let you go, you have to promise me to let go of this grudge. I'm not sure where this anger towards me came from or why you're jealous of me. I can tell you one thing, I have no ties to Aizen and I don't plan on staying. If you want to be by that man, you can have him. As far as I'm concerned, there are other people who deserve your affection and attention much more than he does."

With that, she let go of her emotions entirely, causing her aura to disappear in a wink. She noticed that Loly didn't move or do anymore than twitch. She could feel her Reiryoku was far from in danger, but she knew that her wounds kept her from being a threat. Sighing with relief, she turned on her heel to check on Lilynette...

...only to see a tall man with a hole in his neck, draped in white, and a canine jaw bone wrapped around his collar bone like a necklace.

"Eep!" Orihime yelped, leaping back a foot before dropping into a martial art stance Tatsuki taught her. With a scrunched up face and a steeled pair of eyes, she pursed her lips together in an adorably upset manner. "stay back youuuuuu!"

"Relax," The Arrancar said with a dry tone, "I'm not here to nab ya or anythin'. Got no orders to do so, and quite frankly, could be kind of a pointless drag."

"Oh," Orihime blinked, lowering her arms, feeling more relaxed against the man. Seeing him look down at barrier encased, yet clearly dazed Lilynette, he blew a offhanded raspberry. Pointing at the girl, she began to ask, "you know her?"

"Whatcha doin' in there, Lily?" The older Arrancar inquired.

Blinking a few times, Lilynette practically pounced up, only to find her body ricochet back into the sand. Grunting with pain, she furrowed her brows at Orihime, fixing a glare at her, "Orihime, you can let me go now!"

"Oh, right! Sorry!" Orihime said with a sheepish apology, bowing as she released the Souten Kisshun field.

"Starrk!" Lilynette cried out as she leaped up to glomp the man in midair. Comically, she was denied the pleasure as his fist materialized over her head and knocked her into the ground. As she groaned in a spread eagle fashion, Starrk lazily stuck his gloved pinky in his ear while pressing his foot on her back, "gaugh, you're heavy! Get off me!"

"I had to comb all of Las Noches looking for you, Lily," Starrk said in an annoyed tone, his right brow twitching with plain irritation, his right sole grinding into her back, "it took me ten minutes. Ten. Minutes. You storming off made me exert more than I wanted to and now I'm in a bad mood. Whatcha goin' to do to make it up to me, huh?"

"I-I-I'm sorry, S-S-Starrk!" Lilynette choked as she writhed like a hooked fish underneath his foot, "I-I-I was protecting my friends! Y-Y-You weren't doing anything s-s-so I did!"

Hearing that caused Starrk to relieve the pressure on her back. Looking up at Orihime, whom just blinked with bewilderment at their antics, and then over to the pair of Numeros in the distance. With a sigh, he stepped off Lilynette and bent down to pick her up by the scruff of her jacket.

Putting her back onto her feet with a thud, he scratched the back of his head idly as he looked over at Orihime once more, "I think I get the gist of what happened. Sorry if she caused you any trouble."

"Oh no! She wasn't any trouble, hehe!" Orihime hastily apologized, forcing up a smile as she waved with insistence.

"You're a bad liar, Orihime," Lilynette commented with a dry, half-lidded stare at her.

As another round of distant explosions sounded, a single sphere whistled through the air at an incredible speed. What they wouldn't know was that it was one of Angelle's **Bala Mente**, having been deflected awry from the air, angling unintentionally towards them. While Orihime gaped at the ball heading for them, Starrk idly looked over his shoulder.

"Talking here isn't safe, it seems," Starrk commented nonchalantly as his right hand swiveled in a deflecting manner, the back of his glove batting away the Bala into a distant set of dunes. The loud thunderclap and the flash of light that caused the Bala's explosion shortly after displayed its power, as well as the testament to Starrk's handy parry.

Gulping, Orihime recognized him as one of the Espada present from Aizen. The strangest thing was that she hadn't felt him approach, despite him being an Espada. Even when he tossed the Reishi ball away, she didn't feel his release of Reiatsu.

"_He must be a master of Reishi control if I can't feel it being used like that_," Orihime surmised, just as Starrk turned to walk towards the pair of exhausted Arrancars.

"You two," Coyote Starrk called out, crossing his arms over his chest in as much of an authoritative manner as he could muster, "Aizen wants you at the White Palace. Pronto!"

"L-Lord...Aizen?" Loly groggily said, her body reverting in a wafting purple haze to her sealed form. Long cuts were lacerated from the back of her palm all the way up to her shoulder. Angry red, the scars that would be left behind could look unbecoming, causing an uncomfortable knot to form in her stomach.

"Yeah, it seems that the time for the operation is about to pass soon. He needs all available hands to show up. That means even you two," Starrk said matter-of-fact. Unfolding his arms, he pocketed his gloved hands so he could stare at the crouching Menoly, noticing she had approached Loly tentatively. From the bruise marked on her face, he could deduce she wasn't the culprit in this incident. Nodding towards her, he softly spoke, "make sure she gets bandaged up before you get ready. Wouldn't want that seen by our supreme commander, now do we?"

"Y-Yessir," Menoly nodded, reaching out to touch Loly, feeling no resistance as she looped one arm around her neck while wrapping her free arm around her waist. Seeing the dagger nowhere in sight, she assumed it was returned back to its hiding spot, making her roll her eye. "c'mon. Let's head back."

"Right," Loly whispered hoarsely. Before they made it a few steps, Menoly could see Loly's stare was fixated on the ground. There wasn't anything in her gaze, as if she was contemplating something she had never considered. She could only wonder what she'd be like and if she'd even recover.

With a Sonido, the pair disappeared, leaving behind the decayed battlefield behind.

"Those two always rubbed me the wrong way," Starrk admitted aloud, stroking his chin as he sensed them gain distance away. Looking over at Orihime, he noticed her gazing at the most fiery of lights in the distance. At a glance, he could already tell who was there and who was combatting. "you going to be okay on your own? You might be safer at my Palace. Not going to be used for anything while we're gone anyways-"

"It's alright," Orihime said calmly, a genuine smile spreading across her face as she turned to face the Espada, "I'll manage on my own. Lilynette helped me find the courage to stand on my two feet. I'm not going to hide so soon, not when I know I can help someone."

"Well, just make sure you pick your battles wisely. That's all the advice I can give," Starrk said solemnly, nodding to her before looking down at Lilynette. Placing a hand on her head, he briefly felt it shrugged off, seeing her reach out and wrap her arms around Orihime's waist.

"I'm proud of ya," Lilynette said with a big grin, feeling a hint of a tear well up within her eye, "thank you for protecting me."

"No, I have to thank you," Orihime said with a fond smile, rubbing her hand over the emerald tressed locks of the young Arrancar. Exchanging grins, her eyes sparkled with appreciation as she released her, "without you, I don't think I could have found my true strength."

"Yeah, you probably would have been helpless without me," Lilynette bragged with a cheeky tone, crossing her arms behind her head as she chuckled.

"Take care, young girl," Starrk said with a wry grin, placing his hand on Lilynette's head, "no matter what happens, just know that I'm glad to call you a friend of ours."

With that said, Starrk and Lilynette seemed to evaporate from the air. Orihime blinked inquisitively, turning her head back and forth, dumbly realizing they left too quick for her to notice. Hearing another rumbling explosion in the distance, she narrowed her eyes, turning on her heels to face it.

"I don't know what I can do yet, but, I'll be here when you all need me," Orihime said softly to herself, feeling her cape flow around her in tune with her orange blonde locks. With a smile, she pumped her right fist in the air, shouting out, "do your best, everyone!"

* * *

"What a peculiar Reiatsu that was," Szayel said out loud, his gaze peering into the distance where a violent gust had come from a minute ago. "it definitely was Orihime Inoue's, but I never felt it in such raw potency. Was this why Aizen valued her presence here? I must perform a few..._tender_ experiments on her, once I'm finished up here."

Turning back to the task at hand, he looked down at the loathsome Captain, sprawled on his hands and knees. Hissing wheezes came out of every breath, the sight of sweat beading across his face was visible. What's more, blood seemed to seep around the corners of his mouth and from his nostrils, showing signs of further torture had been administered upon him.

Smirking, the Arrancar raised up the open doll replica of Mayuri, jiggling the body part duplicates like candy in a jar, "Still conscious, Captain?"

"You...insignificant...bastard!" Mayuri snarled, looking up with an enraged glare at him, "don't think you can get away with th-gulk!"

"And there goes the pancreas," Szayel sang too-sweetly, crushing a pink colored piece into bits, causing Mayuri to hurl up a bounty of bile and blood from his mouth onto the sand underneath him. Sighing, he fished out a number of other pieces as he grinned maliciously at him, taking time to look at the Lieutenant of his. Much to his annoyance, she stayed outside of his range and seemed to have finish piling up the corpses of his minions she sent scattered earlier.

Rolling his eyes, he raised up three pieces, juggling them in between his digits as he spoke, "It's sad to see your subordinate uncaring to your condition. You must be an especially cruel taskmaster if she's idle to your plight. Then again, I won't say I'm a saint, but at least those under my service care about my well-being, provided that I brainwashed them in order to do so..."

"Pathetic creature!" Mayuri choked, his eyes staring at him in a crazed manner as his breathes continued to labour out, "you have no idea who you're dealing with!"

"Is that so?" Szayel asked, crushing a piece that read 'Trachea' on it, sounding a grotesque snap heard on the Captain's throat. Following that, Szayel crushed another in between his middle finger and ring finger, labeled 'Heart', causing a lifeless look to form in the Shinigami's eyes. Finalizing that, the Espada crushed in between his forefinger and thumb, labeled 'Brain' resulting in a blank look appearing within his enemy's eyes.

With his head lurched back at an angle, body arched upwards with mouth gaping open, his body squatted stille and inert. No sounds of pain or outrage were heard from the nemesis. Drool and fluids leaked out of the ear canals, the nostrils, and mouth with equal measure, assuming that the body was rejecting all loose fluids now that there was nothing living within.

"N-No way!" Renji gasped, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open with shock, "C-Captain Kurotsuchi was...killed?!"

"Dammit!" Uryū swore aloud, weakly heaving as his blood stained teeth ground against each other, "can nothing stop this monster?!"

Laughing out loud in hysteria, Szayel leaned back with Mayuri's doll in hand. Placing a hand over his face, he began to mock him verbally while blind to all things transpiring around him, "You called yourself a Captain?! What a joke! Your poisonous exterior hid a fangless fool. While you may have baffled me upon arrival, you are nothing but a has-been, someone reaching for genius but never grasping it. Death comes to all those who oppose my greatness!"

"M-Master S-Szayelaporro!" Verona, the dutiful egg-shaped Fracción remaining at Szayel's side, said in a quivering tone.

"What is it?" Szayel said with a frown, his hand remaining over his face, refusing to retract from his backward leaning posture.

"Th-The...the...S-S-Shinigami...!"

"What are you babbling about?!" Szayel leaned forward, uncovering his face to look at his subordinate. Instead of turning to look behind him, he saw something leaning straight into his face. A long tongue hung out, overlapping the chin in a defiant manner, creating a chilling look as two eyes embedded within a painted face pointed in opposite directions.

"I got youuuuu~" Mayuri chimed out while holding his expression.

It took a few moments for Szayel to process what had happened, his eyes peering forward through his mask fragmented glasses. With a high pitched yelp, Szayel's eyes widened to exponential proportions as he staggered back in a hasty retreat. Hands upraised in a defensive manner, he began asking in a shocked manner, "W-What the Hell is this?!"

"My-My," The esteemed Captain sighed, patting off the sand that clung to his Haori in an exaggerated manner. Rolling his head side to side, audible pops were heard with exhalations of relief followed after that. Using a spare hand to wipe off the excess fluids staining his face, he grinned at his startled enemy, visibly taunting him with how right as rain he appeared.

"I don't get it! How?!" Szayel pointed at Mayuri with a free hand, his tone and expression looking bewildered at the phenomena that occurred before him, "HOW IS IT THAT YOU'RE STILL ALIVE?!"

"Here I thought that bastard was going to die easily at the hands of this freak, but this? His tolerance to pain and endurance must be incredible to withstand that amount of damage," The Quincy commented idly, peering warily at the Shinigami he loathed more than anything.

"Hold on," Renji said with a hesitant tone, his sharp eyes boring into the back of the Captain Kurotsuchi's coat from his hobbled position, "something isn't right. What is he doing that deflects the damage like that?"

After what seemed like hours, Mayuri finally made a gesture, stretching his hand out towards Szayel. It was enough to make the Arrancar flinch, raising hands up in a guarded position. A few seconds later the hand formed a mock deaf sign next to Mayuri's right, covered ear, wearing a cheeky golden grin as he asked coyly, "What's that you said? Sorry, I couldn't hear anything but an idiot blabbering nonsense."

"Tch!" Szayel sneered, withdrawing a number of muscle tissue parts presiding around the abdominal area. Crushing them into his palm, he saw Mayuri jerk around and spew out blood from his mouth once again. Chuckling, he grasped more pieces from inside the toy, commenting idly as he crushed them one by one, "it's good to see the doll is still working. Now please stand there and feel anguish as I crush your body, bit by bi-"

"Stop that."

The Octava paused in his crushing of body pieces at hearing those two words. Looking up, he saw Mayuri withdraw a tissue from his coat, wiping away the fluids that were ejected out of his mouth and nostrils. The fact he looked more annoyed than anything caused a baffled anger to swell within his chest.

"I'm getting real tired of that parlor trick," Mayuri said with a sigh, tossing the tissue idly into the wind.

It was those words that sent Szayel over the edge.

"DAMMIT!" Szayel swore out loud, throwing the doll onto the ground, uncaring if all the pieces scattered across the sand. As his subordinate scurried back fearfully, Mayuri tilted his head to the side curiously at his enemy. Raising his foot up, the Espada began to slam his foot over and over on the upper half of the doll, creating a cacophony of audible crunches and snaps to be heard emanate over the Captain's frame. "Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn!"

Visible distortions of body spasms were seen, but Mayuri didn't as much flinch this time around, let alone acknowledge any attack on his person. He chuckled as Szayel crushed the remaining innard pieces lying in front of his feet, heaving heavily with irritation.

"This is impossible!" Szayel exclaimed, waving his arms in emphasis while occasionally gesturing to Mayuri in an accusing manner, "what the Hell are you?! I crushed your vital organs! Tore apart your muscles! Snapped your bones! There shouldn't be anything left of you! How?! What power are you using to keep you alive?!"

"Come now," Mayuri waved dismissively, "I'm a scientist, not a magician. I have no such power that defies logic. The fact of the matter is, _your_ power has become so damned boring!"

"B-Boring?!" Szayel gasped, at a lost of words for what his incredible power was described as.

Without skipping a beat, Mayuri stretched a hand towards Szayel's first pair of victims, slouching near the immobilized Arrancars that lied on their faces in the dust, "You see that Quincy? I have a very cautious nature. Any time I come across a new enemy, I always ensure that I lay a trap sometime during our engagement. One of my favorites is by infecting my opponent's body with countless numbers of surveillance bacteria."

"You...what?!" Uryū gasped out loud, finding his eyes stare with shock at his personal nemesis.

Fixing a sidelong glance at the Quincy, the Captain's smile stretched with a pleased sadism within his golden eyes, "That's right. Ever since we parted from our battle, I've recorded and catalogued every important change to your body's anatomy, physiology and change in environment. Every conversation, every encounter with the other Ryoka, and every battle up to this point. I've witnessed it all like reading pages from a book. Though, to be fair, most of the contents of the life you've lived since our separation has been mundane to completely droll."

"Bast-gulk!" The sole heir to the Ishida legacy began to shout, finding fresh waves of bile and internal fluid rush up his throat. This sent him into a sporadically coughing fit, one of which caught the alarm of the downed Lieutenant next to him.

"Stop wasting your energy! You're only making it worse!" Renji insisted with a lower tone.

Clearing his throat, Mayuri realigned his gaze with the glaring Espada's, raising his hand back up to point at the ground prone Quincy, "By studying his most recent fight with you, I've discovered a number of your habits, methods of fighting, and even your basic abilities. This includes your ability to create replicas of an enemy and then toying with their five senses in order to damage them from the inside out. With this in mind, I came up with a simple solution: Replace all of my bodily parts with false ones, disabling any harmful effect you'd have on my person."

"R-Replaced...your...body parts? That's...that's...THAT'S NONSENSE!" Szayel shrieked, throwing his arms to each side with emphasis. Reaching up, he observed his hands as he voiced his thoughts aloud, occasionally glancing up and pointing accusingly at Mayuri as he rambled, "I mean, it has hardly been a little over an hour since I revealed this ability. Not only is it physically impossible to accomplish what you say, there shouldn't be any way your body could survive in such a state. Your body would be nothing more than blood, tissue and nerve endings! It's impossible for you to live through such a process!"

"You doubt my genius?" Mayuri queried with a blank stare. Sighing, he shook his head sagely, tapping his long-nailed finger against his cheek as he spoke, "Here I believed you to be of an intellectual mind, Espada, but I guess not one scientist can comprehend the entirety of another's work. If you want to know so badly, I'll give you the grisly details."

Raising both hands, he dramatically waved them over his entire being while a smile stretched from ear to ear with glee, "Every Spiritual being possesses a complex weave of pressure points that controls the rise and fall of Reishi within their body. Shinigami and Arrancars have more similar natured systems, as they are beings closely related with anatomies of almost identical form. Each of these nodules pulsate Reiatsu, controlling the human equivalent of body parts to function accordingly. But as you have discovered, science can alter and break rules that are established for material beings.

"During my surgery, I placed specialized microbes within each of my spiritual system's pressure points. These special artificial factories copy and replicate the genetic memory of my body's functions. Each and every one of them has the capacity of running my entire form's major and minor necessities. In short, I am puppeteered by my dozens of genetic memory banks, stringing my body along like a puppet through the system rather than the musculature and skeletal parts. Even organs are unnecessary with my kind of body, as everything is being run purely by self sustaining Reishi batteries until my body recreates new parts to run on."

It was enough of an explanation to render Szayel speechless. The depths of the knowledge and expertise his Shinigami counterpart possessed continued to baffle him. Not only did he have a grasp over Reishi particles and other species' physiologies but he also knew how to work it into his own advantage. Beads of sweat visibly trailed down the Espada's scalp as he planned to use a more...radical method for his enemy's disposal.

"It's kind of sick, but I almost think I inspired the idea," Uryū muttered to himself, earning Renji's attention as he looked on with disgust at the Captain, "during our battle, I introduced an ability he had never seen before. Ransōtengai, the ability to use my own Reishi like puppet strings to move my body when I'm paralyzed or unable to use it for any reason. He's probably using those pressure points as anchors to thread his Reishi throughout his body in order to move, but is doing it in an artificial way that doesn't take concentration or skill to use."

"Sounds like him," Renji nodded, finding himself doing a double take at the Quincy next to him with a dawning expression, "wait, you can move even when paralyzed?!"

"Yeah. What about it?" Uryū inquired back curiously.

"Why haven't you used it when his guard was off and fire an arrow at his head?!" Renji whispered harshly, hoping the Arrancar wouldn't hear him.

"Idiot! You don't think I've already thought of tha-kak-kak-kak!" Uryū coughed up more bodily fluids, leaving him wheezing and looking distinctly more pale, "it's taken all I have no just to keel over and die. Controller over senses or not, my entire stomach is likely ruptured in several areas. Unlike Shinigami, I can't simply walk off this kind of injury!"

"Knew there was a catch to it," Renji huffed with a bummed tone.

"Plus, even I was to start using it, the maniac could have just killed me when he realized breaking my insides wouldn't cut it," Uryū murmured even lower, fixing his glance at Szayel, "though, I could use it now that the dolls are out of his possession. May have to if we want to get out of this...alive?"

The Quincy found himself trailing off as he witnessed something change about the enemy. It caught the attention of the Captain and downed Lieutenant as well, as the winged tendrils had the sacs of flesh beneath them expand in a way that sounded sickening. When they grew up to the expanse of a melon, one after another popped, releasing what was seen as hundreds per sac explosion of what looked like purple and white spheres the size of a thumbnail; each of them etched with the distinctive appearance of miniature skulls with insidious grins emblazoned over their surfaces.

With thousands of them spreading out, it looked like a new nefarious ability had been revealed by Szayel's hand.

"What are these?" Mayuri asked with a tilt of his head, genuinely perplexed by what he was seeing.

"In terms your tiny mind can understand, they're spores," Szayel proclaimed with a smile, watching them spread like dust in the wind, noticing how they came closer and closer to his desired targets. After they had done so, the Arrancar began to wrap his fleshy limbs around in a globe, shielding himself from the outside. His voice however reached the ears of those on the outside, "that double as explosives."

"Nemu!" Mayuri called out immediately, practically summoning her by his right flank.

"EEK!" Verona squealed with alarm, immediately burrowing himself into the sand as far as he could dig.

Almost all at once, all of the black a cacophony of thunderous blasts radiated across the debris field that used to be the palace. Orange and golden tongues of flames flourished out like a tidal wave, decimating the standing piles of rubble that scattered across the kilometer stretch of sandy wastes. With a pillar of smoke exuding from the point of origin, it took only a few minutes before the dust finally settled.

"Ahhh," Szayel sighed with a smile, unfurling his meaty shield, only slightly bothered by the burns plastered over his additional limbs, "do you have anything to say now, Captain?"

"I do, actually."

"Ngh?!" Szayel flinched, finding himself looking at a glimmer of light past the fading smoke. Revealed behind what looked like a diamond shaped barrier of silver-hue, giving it the impression that it was crystalline in structure. Small webbed cracks spread sporadically across its surface, showing the impressions of the multiple explosions that had been caused by his spore bombs.

"Your confidence in that last attack is quite sad. Next time, please try not to tell your enemies what your intent is before you guarantee it succeeds," Mayuri chided lightly, his smile returning as the shield shimmered in a dispersal of shattering Reishi particles.

"And what can you do?!" Szayel goaded, waving a hand in a beckoning manner with a visible sneer, "you may have a brilliant mind, capable of analyzing and planning for my own techniques. But that doesn't mean a damned thing if you don't have the power to back it up. Why you even graced yourself on the battlefield is beyond my comprehension! You're not fit to wear that co-ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?!"

Throughout the Arrancar's rhetoric, Mayuri's eyes seemed to roll around like marbles in a jar. His irises oddly pointing in every which way direction, a visual sign that he couldn't care less of what his Espada enemy had to say. His last shout caused his eyes to realign back at their center, sighing with aftermath, "Shut up."

"W-What?!" Szayel snarled, balling his fists at his side.

Casually, the Captain reached for his Zanpakutō resting before his pelvic region, grasping the hilt with an audible squeeze. Pulling it out in a methodically grated manner, causing the metal to grind against the scabbard as it was extracted, Mayuri explained, "You're so damned noisy. If all you have to say is nonsense, then I guess I have nothing else to discuss with you. **Bankai, ****Konjiki Ashisogi Jizō****.**"

It was then that the totality of the Shinigami's Reiatsu bore upon the Espada's senses. It was nauseous, like inhaling a putrid stench while coming off in wafting waves of a disgusting beast. A powerful, repulsive beast that projected a crimson glow around him as his sword began to warp and change shape, seeming to spew upwards to form something of great stature over his head.

Even then it was enough to cause the Arrancar to take a few recoiling steps back. It was a beast; a horrible disgusting looking creature. With the body of a caterpillar that wriggled behind and over the Captain and his compatriots, it withheld a yellow skinned humanoid body closely resembling a child. Upon its summoning a loud wailing shriek announced its awakening, with wide blank eyes staring down at him while a small mouth grinned predatorily at him. With a crimson cloak wrapped around its neck and a silver ring hovering over its head, it truly looked like a symbolic and absolute abomination.

The mere sight of it sent the Arrancar into a gibbering mess, "What's going on?! Where did that creature come from?! What the Hell is that?!"

Before an answer could even be given, a dark cloud of purple colored smoke spewed from the apparition's mouth. Flooding the ground in front of Szayel, it easily flooded the air with its noxious vapor cloud, flowing well beyond any point of which he could try to flee to. Not that he could focus on escaping, at the moment.

"What is this?!" Szayel questioned, finding that the merest touch of the gas on his skin caused dark purple splotches to appear on his face, "bacteria? Really, I can easily dispatch something like this-!"

Before his hand, alight with a cerulean glow of probing Reishi at his forefingers, could reach his affected skin it too began to be overridden by toxins. Coughing in surprise, he felt a noxious sensation overwhelm his body, with body parts quickly becoming engrossed in the dark color of the poison infecting his body. Turning to his right and left, his sacs swelled up with healing juices, giving him hope as he reached out with shaky hands to gain their restorative properties. But in a matter of seconds to pass, every single sac aligned on his branch-like wings became swollen with purple dyed infectious material, exploding and spewing out dark colored poison onto the ground soon after.

"Dammit! If only I had time, I could...I could-!" Szayel trailed off, finding his body becoming tainted worse and worse by the foreign poison that flooded his body, "damn-damn-damn-DAMN!"

Laughing, Mayuri watched with twisted amusement as his Bankai raised up over the Espada's grounded frame and opened its mouth wide. By the time Szayel realized what was going to happen it was far too late. With a horrified shriek leaving his throat, a mighty crash followed the immensely proportioned monster's head into the sand, its putrid maw consuming the Arrancar whole.

"What a sad way to go, Arrancar," Captain Kurotsuchi commented with a sadistic gleam in his eyes, "now I'll never be able to stuff you inside a jar, Szayelaporro Granz."

* * *

"_Someone's Reiatsu disappeared,_" Aaroniero thought as the battle raged one. Using the Calavera that was stationed closest to the battle ongoing with the other Ryoka, Nelliel's Fracción, and the newest arrivals she was able to gain a semblance of what has happened. The mere sight of it caused her to shudder slightly of what was going on even as she saw it through her other body's eyes, "_even as someone who thrives on the devouring of others, that's a bit nauseating to see. Not how I pictured your end, Szayel, but you were always a bit too cocky for my liking._"

Returning her attention on the battles at hand, she noted her Calavera facing Angelle was having the most trouble of the two.

Aaron-Rukia was in the middle of the air, catching her breath as she stood a dozen meters on a parallel altitude to her foe. The petitely shaped Arrancar was quite nimble and quick, having enough reflexes to evade any attack she couldn't deflect or reflect with her transparent limbs. These protruding tendrils of psionically controlled Reishi appeared like pulsing pseudopods that flattened and flexed intermittently, with their ends changing shape from a bludgeoning tool to an extra hand itself. While barely visible to the naked eye, it was only thanks to Aaroniero's specialized Pesquisa she was employing from a far distance that she could see them as if they were painted in vivid detail.

"You're annoying me," The Arrancar finally spoke, her voice unnervingly still as her words left her lips. A direct contrast to the livid glare that twitched sporadically on her formerly cute face, just as the environment around them continued to rage on a neverending battle.

"**El Directo!**" Called Aaron-Chad directly below their feet, as the statuesque Calavera thrust his right arm forward. With a fiery column of destructive Reishi flowing forth like a guided missile of flames, it hurtled towards the grounded Croc Arrancar. As it neared him, the even larger Shinigamified Hollow brandished his executioner's axe, fueling its edges with burgundy tongues of virulent energy.

"**_Trazo La Muerte!_**" Sin cried out in his Hollowfied tongue, swinging the behemoth weapon in a vertical swing. Following his attack a cross-bones shaped rotating windmill of bisecting energy was produced, cutting through the air like an energized buzz saw. Cleaving through the explosive pyre's head as if it were flesh, the ten meter tall skull-adorned Reishi axe spun forward with the clear intent of cutting down his Hollow-like enemy. Illuminated with a cerulean overcast formed by the walls of Reishi that harmlessly flowed on either flank, Sin's eyes noticed something rush in between his attack and the Ryoka's failing one.

It was Nelliel, with sword held out in a horizontal defensive posture.

When the swiftly rotating windmill of energy struck her sword, her heels quickly dug into the sand and hair billowed back in a whipping fashion. Gritting her teeth, she focused with closed eyes. Opening her mouth wide, the energy that made up the powerful technique was dragged into a irresistible vacuum. As the last of the energy was gobbled up, Sin narrowed his eyes with remembrance and disdain at the Tres' special ability.

Just as he readied to attack the Arrancar, he noticed that Aaron-Chad had disappeared from his placement of fire.

"_Behind me!_" Sin realized with a quick pulse of his Pesquisa, propelling himself to his right with a rapidly deployed Sonido. Enormous heels tapped onto the sand just as the Ryoka axe kicks with his right foot, cleaving the sand in half, sending it in a upheaving explosion of force. Spinning his weapon in his right hand, he quickly launched himself back at his stalwart opponent, swinging his weapon in a horizontal stroke to his target's right flank.

"Ngh!" Raising large shield arm, Aaron-Chad took the brunt of the incoming attack, absorbing and dispelling its force through his limb. Upon using the reflexive maneuver, he also noticed Sin swinging his left arm to thrust his giant fist towards his face. Unable to react accordingly, a crimson explosion of a Bala launching upon the row of knuckles hitting his form, the man was sent flying across the battlefield.

Just nary a handful of meters just behind Byakuya's stoic form, the human bodied warrior crashed within a recess of the sand. Even as the uproar of sand and shockwave caused his dignified attire to whip violently about, the Captain hardly skipped a beat, twisting his sword hand in accordance with his continual assault on his own enemy. Spiraling through the air his Senbonzakura chased the graceful and swift Sverrie, whom smiled and locked her eyes distantly on the Shinigami with a decadent desire.

In the background, Sin found himself reeling in surprise as Nelliel's **Cero Doble** was unleashed upon him. Deployed in a crouched, uppercutting swing of her sword, the pink hued blaze of light was narrowly deflected by the long handled weapon of his axe before the force sent him off his feet. Landing half a dozen meters away he dispelled the barreling arc of Reishi just in time to hit Nel's sword with his axe in mid leap, creating a visible warp in the air just prior to sending her flipping backwards.

"_Damn, Sin's tougher than I remember,_" Aaron-Chad thought as he struggled back to his feet, visibly grimacing at the sensation of heat and rattling his body took from the Bala infused punch. Briefly taking his gaze away from the ongoing battle the Shinigami and the reformed Espada was having, he craned his neck up to see Aaron-Rukia staring down Angelle, both of which seemed to stare intently at each other.

Crouching on his legs, the Ryoka launched himself into the air with a lightning swift pliant rush from the sand upwards. Rearing back his fist, his right shoulder discharged a wafting jetstream of Reishi in preparation for his upcoming attack. With a silent proclamation he sent a volatile shot of El Directo at his enemy in the sky, effectively taking her attention on Aaron-Rukia for a split second.

"Please," Angelle droned out, idly craning her left wrist upwards, causing three of the psionic arms to grapple the volatile beam in the air. Like bending Reishi in a similar move to one redirecting the flow of water, the Arrancar spun it around in a halo rotation in the air perpendicular to her hovering frame. Sending a dismissive gesture of her hand, the whirling beam of light was sent right back at Aaron-Chad's hovering frame, aiming to take him straight out of the sky.

Two things transpired that went against her liking.

The first was when a wry grinning Aaron-Chad side-stepping the telegraphed strike to his left, allowing his own redirected attack veer down to the ground below. Uncannily she witnessed the pyre of light roar down towards the battle between Captain Kuchiki and Sverrie, the latter stared wildly up at the incoming energy column heading in her direction. With a lance of razors at her back and the beam of light heading towards her graceful sprint's direction, she had little choice but react accordingly in order to resist damage.

In a bright cerulean eruption of energy that sent a bristling wave of pressure to lap at Angelle just as the fire of the explosion rocketed upwards she noticed the second thing that was against her wishes. With her return glance forward, she barely had time to notice the tip of Sode no Shirayuki lancing forward, aiming to split her skull straight down the middle. Bending her upper body back in a radical split second of swift movement, she felt the icy edge of the sword split a few hairs as it passed over her head. Watching it spin over her head, she strained her head to see Aaron-Rukia far away, holding onto what looked like a rope of ice attached to the ribbon affixed with the weapon's pommel.

"**Some no mai, Tsukishiro!**"

A heartbeat was skipped just as the psychic Arrancar found herself staring down a brilliant eclipsing circle of white form over her horizontally aligned body. Freezing Reishi flooded the air, rocketed down to the ground and spurning upwards, creating a perfect crystalline smooth pillar of ice in its wake. Upon fully solidifying, the sword was whipped back into the Shinigami's hand with an audible clack, allowing the ice to crumble and rain down as snowflakes to the earth below.

"_Angelle's immobilized,_" Aaron-Rukia thought with a nod sent towards Aaron-Chad, whom gestured with a thumb's up. Watching him rocket back to assist Nelliel in their fight against the Warden, the Shinigami-bodied Calavera heard the distinct cracks sound in her ice-formed tower. Turning her gaze, she grimaced as the entire column of frozen moisture was ripped apart, revealing an upright and enraged Angelle. Slivers of ice clung to her hair but little else, showing more in the trails of her psionic limbs seemed to have shielded her at the last moment before breaking free of her frozen prison. "_for about a total of ten seconds. Terrific._"

"Annoying. Annoying. Annoying!" She whispered out twice before snarling out, balling her fists in upraised fashion. As violent cracks of Reishi danced around her clenched digits and knuckles, rays of luminous beams escaped the cracks of her hands. Opening them slowly, marble sized orbs of hyper compressed spirit energy crackled and rotated between her splayed out fingers. "I rip things apart that annoy me. Piece. By. PIECE!"

Down where the El Directo was detonated, within the trails of smoke that was circled by the petal-laden scenery was Sverrie. Nary a scratch laid upon her beautiful frame, as the once bare-handed Arrancar now brandished her feather-guarded rapier in hand. With silken smooth hair flowing in the wind, the Privaron Espada smiled at Byakuya as she nodded her head in the direction of Angelle, "That doesn't look good, does it?"

Byakuya's eyes merely glanced up at the Arrancar above, confirming what he had sensed upon the energy's priming. It was similar to the same Bala he had used a level eighty Bakudō to deflect. Multiplied over a set of ten, he knew the damage was going to be devastating when they were unleashed.

Returning his gaze back towards Sverrie, his eyes widened at seeing her a mere meter's distance. A thrust of her blade aimed for his head made him reflexively whir to his right, and then a hand outstretched, with its single forefinger sliding across his lips. In what felt like a sudden throb in his chest through a mind-numbing shock through his brain, Byakuya's movements halted altogether, causing the spiraling airborne blossom razors to remain suspended in the middle of the air.

"**Indiscriminada Amor**," Sverrie whispered with a smile.

"_Shit, what just happened?!_" Aaron-Rukia thought from above, having noticed the recent move made by the Privaron. With a recoiling step back followed by a bead of sweat crawling down her Calavera's scalp, she muttered out loud, "she didn't just-"

"DIE!" Angelle's voice cried out as she hurled the first handful of smaller psychic Bala.

It was by the skin of her teeth that she reverted her attention back to the incoming projectiles heading her way. Thrusting her left hand towards the collection of pink colored marbles of Reishi, she muttered out a hasty chant just before they could strike, scribbling indistinct lines within the air. With her body engulfed in a crimson blanket of Reiatsu, she barked out loud, "**Bakudō #9, Geki!**"

A heartbeat later, the five marbles of compressed Reishi halted in the middle of space. Glowing with an aura of wispy red light, they were now completely in Aaron-Rukia's control. Though shaky breaths came out of Aaron-Rukia's mouth, the look of dumbfounded exasperation on her enemy's face was worth the effort.

"You're in the way," She spoke lowly, rearing back her outstretched arm before thrusting it forward, "so get lost!"

"You piece of-!" Angelle bit back, hurtling the other handful of micro-Bala at her enemy's, causing them all to strike each other at once. The result was a wind-knocking shockwave that struck them both just shy of the blast wave that came after. A conical explosion of infernally twisting energies, the elliptical thrust of high pressure wind lapped onto the ground as the bottom-half of the Bala blast speared into the sand below in a fiery impalement.

Amidst the blast, two figures were sent hurtling out of sight on opposite ends. Angelle, wincing and covered with burns while Aaron-Rukia looked to be in similar condition. With both of them crossing just outside the perimeter of the established battlefield, the true menace began to rear its head upon all combatants.

"That's it, my darling," Sverrie cooed, stroking her left hand over Byakuya's left cheek in an adoring manner. Having been shielded by another Dankū upon the reflexive command by her newest slave, she relished the look of pure commitment in the man's previously stoic eyes. Even a small smile stretched across his stone wall visage, making it all the more obvious he had succumbed to her power. "your mistress thanks you for protecting her."

"I'll do anything you desire of me, my immaculate blossom," Byakuya spoke softly.

Giggling at the pet name, she knew it was only in her slave's nature to respond in kind. She knew each person she imbued Indiscriminada Amor upon had a different way of showing their devotion and love towards her. She had even tried it on the former Primera, a permanent mark of loathing she has for her to this day. It had been a wonderful night they spent together, in her point of view...

Shaking her head to dispel the reverie, she turned her head towards the far corner of the battlefield, "There are a number of sickening creatures over there. Will you help me feel more safe by cutting them and crushing them?"

"Sverrie," Byakuya said softly, holding a familiar edge to his voice as he turned his sword around to reform it back into its sealed state. Turning on his heel, he walked in the direction she mentioned, all the while she kept within a step behind him, smiling broadly at his latter words, "I'll kill a billion creatures, innocent or guilty, in order to keep that smile from leaving your face."

* * *

"_No!_" Aaroniero thought as she saw the cunning Privaron make off with Byakuya, steadily moving away from the battlefield. Looking to her Rukia-bodied Calavera, she knew it was too soon before she could get back up. By the time she'd awake from unconsciousness, she'd have to use healing Kidō in order to dim aroused suspicions. She was only thankful she had used a spell to jettison herself away from the blast before it could overtake her entirely. She couldn't speak for Angelle but she looked to be unconscious as well.

Turning her attention to Aaron-Chad, she noticed that he was continuing to clash with Sin. Even with the combined help of Nelliel, the two of them were struggling to handle the surprisingly experienced Arrancar. She could only guess how Sin had so much combat prowess and power on his side. If they lost their battle against him, the likelihood of the Gotei coming out victorious could be even less probable.

Turning her attention to Chōjirō, she could see that he was having his own problems to deal with regarding Soto.

In a blur of swift swordplay, the Lieutenant and the Privaron exchanged a flurry of sword strokes at each other's proximity. Electrical purple sparks blended with emerald tongues of Resihi from the prior and latter's weapons. Looks of fierce determination crossed their visages as they determined to break through one or the other's impeccable guard.

But, in the corner of his eye, he saw Captain Kuchiki walking ahead of the Privaron Espada. Unlike before where he was hellbent in destroying her, he seemed unnervingly relaxed in her presence. From the feeling of his Reiatsu, he could feel it was muddled and distorted by something else. Dilated pupils and a mouth opening partway caused him to realize something that Aaroniero hoped: Byakuya was being manipulated.

"Captain!" Chōjirō tried to call out, using Shunpo to evade a downward swipe by Soto's dual sickles, carving the sand in a shower of upheaved grains.

Turning his head to look over his shoulder, Soto clicked his tongue against his teeth. Returning his gaze back to the Lieutenant, he ground his sickles against each other, creating a grating sound as he spoke lowly, "It's too late. Unless Sverrie wants to, that man is stuck under her thumb. Not even our Primera could shatter the spell she placed under years ago."

"Move aside!" Lieutenant Sasakibe shouted with a look of urgency, swinging his blade aloft to his right side.

"You should worry of defeating me first, Shinigami!" Soto growled out, swiping both sickles across the air in a reaping motion. That movement was enough to send crimson tears through the air, with severing Reishi particles rushing towards the Lieutenant as a means to take him apart. It was an attack that seemed to overlap the Lieutenant's person in a matter of a few seconds.

That was, till a thunderclap followed a violent eruption of violet-colored electric Reishi pouring through. It was thin, in the shaped outline of the Lieutenant's Zanpakutō, carving through the Arrancar's left side as he narrowly leaped to his right to evade the attack.

Rolling with his leap, the Privaron struggled to stand only to fall momentarily to his knees, "His attack is winding me?"

"You haven't dealt with electricity much, have you?" Chōjirō asked rhetorically in a chiding tone. Raising his sword in a facial dividing line, tendrils of high voltage in purple color snaked up and down his rapier. With the Shikai alight with brimming Reiatsu, the Shinigami stated confidently, "if you continue this battle, you will taste defeat of the worst kind. Painful and unforgiving."

"Tch," Soto murmured, finally finding himself standing to face his enemy across the distance. Leaning left to right, the Arrancar then sped forward in a rapidly deployed Sonido, his sickles glowing brightly with an outpour of emerald Reiatsu. It was enough to put the Shinigami back on the defensive, the aura of Reishi defusing his electrical properties his own Shikai possessed. Powerful shockwaves radiated from their exchange of blows as he swung his sickles one after the other, pushing him across the sandy wastes.

"I won't let you get the chance to fire that Zanpakutō again!" Soto declared, slamming an outraised foot into the Shinigami's solar plexus.

"Gah!" Sending him flying across the expanse of distended sand, Chōjirō rolled with the kick to skid to a halt on his hands and knees. Watching Soto rush forward, he knew he needed time to manifest a proper offense. Raising his left hand up, an azure flame rolled along his fingertips as he muttered in a quiet chant, "Glisten as you fall into the arms of the Mountains, Land, and Seas. Fold over your protective silk with precious gems. Scatter light and cast aside darkness..."

"What are you plotting now?!" Soto snarled as he appeared over him, both sickles in hand, swinging down with a curtain of crimson Reishi unleashed over his head. What he didn't anticipate was an inverted pyramid of turquoise color sprouting out in thin air, causing his downward descent to be repelled along with his attack. Flipping backwards he landed with a dragging skid, beheld Chōjirō's visage behind the transparent barrier he erected.

"**Bakud****ō #73, Tozansh****ō,**" Chōjirō spoke with declaration, finishing the full incantation of his Kidō. The shimmering crystal was easily the size of a house, in the shape of a pyramid and in a reverse position compared to his prior sealing Kidō.

"Another barrier? Is hiding and defending the only thing you can do against me, Shinigami?!" Soto shouted with frustration.

"I have to admit, in a battle of attrition, you can surely best me," Chōjirō said factually, raising his sword over his head as he spoke. A gout of electricity sprang upwards, bypassing the barrier's top and crackling high up into the sky. As the visual sporadic flashes of violet hued energy crackled in front of the Arrancar, he finished, "but at full power, my Gonryōmaru is one of the strongest Zanpakutō in Gotei 13. It is not boast, it is fact."

"That powerful? In that case," Soto said with a grim smile, inverting his grip on both sickles before slamming their pommels against each other, the blades' edges pointing downwards like claws. "I'll just have to beat you before it reaches full power. **Pounce, Astuta Lagarto!**"

In a fiery eruption of howling wind and teal light, Soto quickly transformed from his Shinigami body into a reptilian humanoid form. Black hair formed a shoulder length mane that sprouted outwards in a spiky demeanor, a single armored helm formed a pair of eye-slits over his nose and upper visage. With arms withholding a pair of large scimitars carved out of bone, his lower body sported a pair of raptor like legs, with sharp boned talones affixed to where his toes used to be. Armored cuirass and cloak with scales tied down to his body, his look was further more intimidating by the thick aura of indigo that shined around his person.

"Let's see if you can charge up that Zanpakutō faster than I can demolish that shield of yours!" Soto declared with animosity, leaping forward with both bladed arms ready to slam into the shield at full power.

* * *

"_Dammit! I can't find anyone who can stop him!_" Aaroniero swore to herself from afar. From what she could tell from a quick scan of her Pesquisa, there wasn't anyone who could lend a free hand. Her Rukia Calavera was down, Aaron-Chad was tied up helping Nel fight Sin, Chōjirō was pinned by the Privaron Segunda and Ichigo was off fighting Rana.

She could feel the Calavera that watched the end progress of Mayuri's match with Szayel. As much as she desired to move her away, she didn't risk having a Captain feel an abnormality on the move. Of all the Captains, she didn't want him to be suspicious.

But then, she realized someone who was beyond everyone's attention. Not even the Vanguard forces, staying a healthy distance away from the La Muerte endowed battlefield, had sensed her or bothered to approach her. The one who briefly fluctuated a power that could prove invaluable to them all.

Wasting no time, Aaroniero began to carve her fingers into the sand until she crafted ink out of her own Reishi. Drawing on her arms, she made the necessary preparations for the Kidō required. With a brief inhale, she placed her palm on the blue square making up the conduit for the spell, before muttering lowly, "**Bakud****ō #77, ****Tenteikūra!**"

As a vibrant tree of Reishi expanded from ink placed onto the sand, she expanded her Kyokko spell to compensate for the flux of Reiatsu that might be felt. She knew at this point in time that if she were distracted now, her link with the Calaveras could be disoriented. She now knew why Rudbornn remained adamantly out of the way his own Calaveras when they fought. Focusing his own movements in sync with puppeteering his minions would be maddeningly difficult.

"Orihime!" Aaroniero's voice cried out through the telepathic spell.

"**Rukia? Why are you talking in my head?**"

"Not important!" Aaroniero shook her head, almost forgetting that she was using her own voice instead of a Calavera's. "listen, the others are in trouble. I need you to go and help them out!"

"**Wha-?! Who?!**"

"The Shinigami Officers," Aaroniero said grimly, her eyes narrowing ahead over the bright communication Kidō, illuminating a bead of sweat crawling down her right cheek, "I think Byakuya has been turned by the enemy...and is going to start attacking his allies!"

* * *

"Get back here!" Sentarō shouted out as he thrust his arm forward, sending his man-sized Boomerang soaring through the air. Chasing down the rapidly sprinting Sedosa, the arrow shaped weapon carved a trench of sand as it hovered and spun over the sand in pursuit. Just mere meters away from the Arrancar, the enemy woman could be seen spinning her scimitars around her wrists before slamming their pommels together.

A thunderous crash by Mōkin, and Sedosa disappeared in a flash. Reappearing twenty meters above in a blur of Sonido, her dual swords had combined into a bow, with tensile silken string stretched across the backs of the blades. Pulling back, an arrow of similar material oozed out of a thin slit in her palm, forming the liquid steel into a thin shape in order to form the arrow she desired. Letting go with an audible crack, the projectile sang through the air as it aimed to hit Sentarō before Mōkin had a chance to rise up and bludgeon her.

"I got your back!" Kiyone shouted reassuringly, hopping out from behind her fellow 3rd Seat. With a graceful swing of her arms in a downward swipe, the pliant steel silk formed a rectangular shield in front and above their heads. The result was enough to shatter the arrow, leaving the force of the projectile to create a buffet of wind from the attack's impact.

"Thanks," Sentarō said with a grim smile, raising his gauntlet in an upward fist gesture.

Sedosa wordlessly narrowed her eyes behind the cowl of her hood, her dark colored lips pursing with irritation. Looking down, she suddenly noticed the boomerang spiraling underneath her, creating a twister of cerulean Reiatsu in its wake. Kicking off the air, she narrowly evaded the ascending metal whirlwind's attack, letting herself freefall with her back facing the ground.

During her descent, she saw a human-sized fireball roar up towards her altitude declining person.

"Tch!" She hissed with realization, barrel-rolling away from the pink tongues of fiery Reishi. Feeling the waves of heat permeate the failed attack, she now descended swiftly to see the bun-adorned Lieutenant with a steaming Shikai in hand. Forming another arrow in hand, she drew the string back to her cheek as she took aim, letting go a trio of arrows.

"**Bakudō #39, Enkōsen!**" Momo chanted out with both her sword guarding hand and her unarmed one upraised. In a blink of an eye, a spinning dull yellow disc spun over her head, shattering the arrows upon impact.

"Dammit!" Sedosa swore under her breath, twisting her lower body so it was pointing down upon landing softly on the sandy earth. Before she even considered facing the Lieutenant, Nanao appeared behind her. Turning to face the force her Pesquisa detected, she was in time to raise her right scimitar to hit an outstretched shield. With her body spinning around with sword in hand, Nanao narrowly missed Sedosa's head, passing mere inches over the top of her cowl as she bent her neck back. Eyes blinked as she saw a distortion appear around the sword, as if a form of invisible Reiatsu had flowed across its metal frame. Sword swing completed, a shriek was heard emitted in the air shortly followed by a shockwave that struck a sand formation nearly fifty meters in the distance.

"_What was that? A shockwave of Reiatsu?_" Sedosa queried as she cartwheeled away from Nanao's position, briefly backpedaled away from the astute Shinigami. Looking over to her right, she noticed Patros in the distance. Growling she shouted out to him, "Would it kill you to come help?!"

"As a matter of fact, it will," Patros dryly bit back, his body shimmered a handful of meters to the left. Doing so allowed him to dodge a spiraling wave of ice that erupted the sand and froze the upraised grains where they stood.

From what Sedosa could see, the last of the Shinigami Officers, was keeping Patros from interfering as he had been attempting to throughout their scuffle. But what she saw so far was that it mattered little whom was matched up with who. Each one of the enemy possessed an adept knowledge and skill in the Kidō Arts, were quick on their feet, and didn't lack anything in the category of power. None of them were of Captain Class material entirely on their own, but they were all in combination enough to put her on edge.

"**Seppen Jinpū!**" Isane cried out, making a wide sweep with her sword that not only covered the area facing Patros but towards Sedosa as well. Within the indigo hued Reiatsu fueled wind was a storm of snowflakes, as large as a shuriken, numbering in the hundreds. As they sang, the wind howled upon the approach of the two enemies it attempted to attack at once.

"**Nivel Diez!**" Patros called out, as he grasped hold of the hilt for his sword. With a blindingly swift Iaido swing of his blade, an impressive arc of solar hued Reishi was let loose towards the wind of razor sharp snowflakes. Striking the wind and the ice at the same time, it caused a vibrant explosion in the middle of the ground, sending flame-ridden steam to flood the sand before their eyes.

At the same time, Sedosa combined her scimitars into a bow once more, forming an arrow faster than before. Before the transparent threaded arrow reached behind her cheek, she blew a gout of purple colored tongues of Reishi to light the body. Letting it loose with a thunderclap of force, a searing lance of light tore a five meter wide hole through the Reiatsu fueled wind of ice. Missing Isane's body within a hair thanks to a well timed Shunpo, the arrow continued on past the battlefield before exploding a vivid violet lit pillar of flames beyond their battlefield's horizon.

"_My_ Fuego Seda _missed_," Sedosa realized narrowing her eyes at the painted overcast of the blast that nearly took apart her target, "_that ice filled wind must have derailed my aim and slowed it down. Next time I won't let it_-"

Her thoughts were interrupted by the overhead roar of a familiar twister of Reiatsu. Looking up, her mouth was agape and her hidden eyes widened. There above was the glider, spinning wildly down, now endowed with a curtain of crimson-orange tongues of fire. It had only occurred to her mere seconds ago that one of the Lieutenants fired up a fireball that had missed her entirely, right in the same direction as the ascending glider.

"He sent it upwards to build momentum for its descent and fueled its destructive power with the flames!" Sedosa realized with a look of knowing dread, feeling as if she had only a few seconds left to escape.

Trying to move, she felt as if her feet were bound by something, making them unable to move. Looking over where Momo stood, the last telling signs of a fabric of light refracting Kidō. What was hidden appeared to be a golden rope of binding energy, wrapping around both of her ankles from the Lieutenant's outstretched hand. A look of grim determination etched on her face told her all she needed to know.

They had planned to pin her down from the beginning.

"Not getting away this time!" Sentarō hollered from the distance. When she cast a vehement glare his way, he grinned and swung his gauntlet down to punch the sand before his feet, crying out loud, "**Suiryoku!**"

With an additional plume of blue light upon the protruding edges of the glider, a jetstream of cerulean flames corkscrewed within the center of the crimson fire, creating a pink-scarlet pillar of Reishi. Heartbeats of movement could be seen in intricate slow detail as the force of the incoming attack blew away the sand and whipped Sedosa's hood and cloak wildly. A look of horror crossed her face as the fire endowed Mōkin rushed down to crush her absolutely.

"**S****ōkatsui**."

Just as suddenly as the attack was about to obliterate the Arrancar, so too was a pillar of Reishi formed from the air to crash into the head of the spiraling twister of fire and metal. The explosion that unfolded was enough to create a sizable spherical expanse of flames following the shockwave that whipped all observing parties of their attire and hair. Spinning from the blast was a soot covered glider that crashed a dozen meters away, leaving a crater prone Sedosa, groaning from the explosion's impact and Momo who was sent flying off her feet into a ditch of sand.

"W-What happened?" Sentarō asked with a bewildered flurry of eye blinks.

"Was that a Kidō that hit your Zanpakutō?" Kiyone asked after swishing her head to the location of the downed glider, embedded partially in the sand, and back to the source of the attack. What she saw was baffling to her mind. Unable to form words, the fellow 3rd Seat turned his head and saw the origin of the attack, causing him to look on with confusion.

"Is that...?" He began to ask.

"Captain Kuchiki?!" Isane cried out with surprise.

Indeed there he stood, just a dozen meters from their circle of battle torn sand within the La Muerte site. Having been so occupied with their exchange with the two Arrancars they hadn't even bothered to see what his status was with his own skirmishes with the Vanguard in his area. From the look of things he looked unharmed, but the way he stood and the demeanor of his appearance was far from comforting.

Worse, he seemed to wear a disturbing smile, complemented by a far-off look in his eyes. Standing right next to him a mere foot away was a beautiful Arrancar, with a mask circlet worn around her crown, hidden mostly by her silky hair. The rest of her body was almost completely on display with see-through silk wrapped over her luscious and voluptuous figure. A feather-guarded rapier in one hand while another propped fetchingly on her hip, she bore a dark smile and an enticing gaze at the site of stunned faces before her.

"That was close," Sverrie cooed out, "I almost thought we couldn't get here in time. Are you okay, Sedosa?"

Hearing her cry out, Sedosa rose up, staggering out of the crater that had formed from the blast. Soot and steam layered the top of her hood and cloak, with small bruises and burns peppering her exposed skin to show that she had received a minor portion of the strike. Narrowing her obscured eyes at her fellow Vanguard colleague, she clicked her tongue with approval as she gripped her scimitars in a relaxed manner, "No worse for wear, I suppose. Took your time, didn't you?"

"He played hard to get, but he's all mine now," Sverrie said with a giggle, leaning over to wrap her body around the Captain, nuzzling her face into the crook of his neck as she purred over her prize.

"What is going on?!" Nanao cried out with an abject look of horror on her face, causing the Privaron to halt her coddling and cast a sneer at her. Seeing her point with a free hand, as her shield now sheathed her sword, she yelled out in a demand, "what the Hell did you do to Captain Kuchiki?!"

"Oh? Are you his subordinate?" Sverrie asked with a cock of her head to the side. Before the Lieutenant could continue speaking, she sighed and waved nonchalantly with her swordhand, "it doesn't matter either way. Unless I choose to, he won't cast his loyalty to anyone. Not even his allies."

"Why you-!" Isane began crying out with anger, pulling back her sword in preparation to attack the clinging former Espada.

"Cut her throat," She whispered into Byakuya's ear.

In an instantaneous bout of Shunpo, Byakuya appeared in front of the 4th Division 2nd-in-command. Despite her head jerking back with recoiling surprise, a blur of metal crossed over her neck. Moments after the coldly detached Captain turned his back on her, a gout of blood spurt out of a inch-wide cut made in her neck.

"Gulk!" Isane gurgled out with shock, dropping her sword to clench at her bleeding neck. As she fell to her needs, blood continued to seep between the cracks of her fingers, with more dark colored liquid overflowing from her mouth to drench her lower lips and chin. Her skin color could already be noticed paling with every second that passed by.

"ISANE!" Kiyone cried out with alarm, rushing to her side away from Sentarō.

Before she could make it far, Byakuya appeared behind her, causing her to stop short. Turning her neck slowly to look at the back of the Kuchiki Head's head, she felt a searing pain erupt from her chest. Two holes opened up within her precisely stabbed kosode, causing her to fall forward with a petrified look of fear over her widened eyes. Just as her face struck the ground, a pool of blood began to form on the sand beneath her, just as the veil of silk returned to form the katana just in front of her sand prone head.

"Kiyone!" Sentarō shouted with an outstretched arm, finding himself barely comprehending what happened. It was like when Captain Suì-Fēng attacked the two of them, tossing him into the air with a simple uppercut as if he was nothing but trash, leaving Kiyone for last. With their roles reversed, he couldn't help but feel a well of dread flowing out from his gut, paralyzing his limbs.

"Time for you to die," Byakuya said calmly with an entranced smile still plastered over his face.

It was those words that made Sentarō free himself of his own fear. Replacing self pitying dread with rage, Sentarō swung his gauntlet fist towards the slowly approaching Captain, magnetically commanding his burnt glider to rush towards his enemy. Tearing through the sand as if it was butter, the arrowhead-shaped weapon rushed towards the target beside Sentarō with a wave of blistering force that buffeted the 3rd Seat's body.

Blurring through the boomerang as if he phased through it, the Kuchiki kept smiling as he appeared in front of Sentarō. Not granting him time to react, the Shinigami swung his sword in a upper right diagonal arc. An eruption of blood following bisected cloth and silk came forth as Sentarō's mouth guzzled with the liquid with his backward fall from the single strike. Eyes rolled back as soon as his body struck the sand, coating the ground beneath him with blood just as Kiyone had.

"Very good! I'm so proud of you!" Sverrie called out with a bubbly tone, waving on towards the Captain from afar at the scene of gruesome attacks he left behind.

It was enough to forget about her own safety, as a ball of flames rushed towards her left. Leaping back in the air, she avoided the thunderous pink-hued pyrotechnic explosion, her body landed with a graceful tap on her bare soles. Turning her head to the left, she saw a look of grief-stricken rage upon Momo's face, as her sword already brimmed with flames for another attack ready.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Momo screamed, swinging her sword forward to thrust another fireball towards Sverrie. Before it could reach halfway, Sverrie smiled, watching a crimson orb telling of a Shakkahō crashing into her Zanpakutō's attack. With a blaze of orange and red filling her vision, Momo shrank with realization who shot it, and turned around to see Byakuya raising a sword over his head.

Before she could raise her sword to protect herself, Nanao appeared between the two, her shield deflecting the Captain's sword effortlessly. With apprehension flowing across her face, the Lieutenant cried out, "Captain! Get a hold of yourself! Do you realize what you're doing?!"

"Don't pay any mind to them, beloved," Sverrie called out louder than Nanao, causing the crouched Momo and Nanao to look over with a grimace at her smiling face. Pointing her unarmed hand towards the two, she commanded authoritatively, "crush them. I don't want to see a fraction of life left in those girls' eyes."

"As you wish, my love," Byakuya murmured, his smile continuing to remain as his sword strained against Nanao's shield. With a bristling wave of rising Reiatsu barreling down upon her, Nanao could compare the first strike that of a mere shove to a automobile crashing into her defenses. Slowly but surely, the shield was pushed back, causing a field of sparks to emit between the metal edge and circular disc.

"C-Captain...please!" Nanao begged, reaching up to grasp the sheathed sword embedded within the shield.

"**Bakud****ō #63, Saj****ō Sabaku!**" Cried out a feminine voice from beyond, causing a long roped chain to launch forth and wrap around Sverrie's form.

"What?!" Sverrie cried out with outraged surprise, looking over to her right to see the one responsible. "you-!"

"Isane!" Momo cried out with a relieved, tear-ridden smile.

There stood Isane, throat smeared with blood but healed thoroughly. A haggard look appeared over the Lieutenant's face from her brush of death followed by using such a high level Kidō. Having wiped the blood from her mouth, she held up her sword as she approached the Arrancar responsible for the tragedy that struck among them.

"The horror of turning comrade against comrade is one I will not allow to go unpunished," Isane declared with a bright gleam of hatred emanating from her dark eyes. Raising her Zanpakutō over her head, a swirl of frozen molecules imbued with an indigo light began to form over head.

Feeling the Reiatsu lift over showing concern and confusion of what was happening before the Captain's eyes, Nanao struck as quickly as she could. Instead of drawing her sword, she thrust her forefingers into the inner ring of her shield, muttering aloud quickly, "**Hainawa!**"

The hastily crafted Bakudō created a tangible rope of binding light, snaking over her shield and wrapping around the Captain's along with his wrists. Seeing this, the controlled Shinigami shook his weapon in his grip, desperate to shake free of his new bindings. A look of true fear showed on his face as he cried out to Sverrie, "My love-!"

"**Entice,**" Sverrie said, a look of dry irritation crossing her face as she said this word.

"**Rinb****ōs****ō Kaze!**" Isane declared with a scream, swinging her sword with both hands forward, releasing a towering wave of ice shredding wind that blanketed the air in white as it rushed towards the Arrancar. Mere moments before meeting its destination Sverrie herself bristled with a bright scarlet aura, swiftly bursting out into what looked like a rose shaped eruption of Reiatsu. Repelling the wave of lacerating ice and shattering the Bakudō, a brilliantly lit shockwave jettisoned the distant trio of Captain and Lieutenants while Isane was sent skidding back on her heels by what followed.

Unveiled through a billowing wind of sand and steam was revealed a being of pure radiance. Unfurling in a sweeping motion was a white winged being akin to that of an angel, skin sparkling like gems but retaining its soft marble complexion of alabaster hue. The circlet that crowned her head now became a white feathered headdress, sliding over her black hair down her back to the top of her heels. Her hourglass waist was now bereft of the black sash, now adorned with a skirt of sewn feathers flowing back over her rump into a tailed segment. Legs retained their humanoid shape, with her bare feet now wearing anklets of sparkling gems giving her a mesmerizing aura that shined all over her person.

"**Cisne,**" Sverrie said in a musical tone, her pink lips kissing the air as she smiled at the stunned Isane, idly glancing over at the slowly rising Byakuya, Nanao, and Momo. Chuckling, she knew they could feel her Reiatsu, well within a Captain Class on its own. Looking forward at Isane, she saw her raise her guard up, with both hands shaking as they held the sword before her.

"Don't be afraid," Sverrie sang in a soothing tone, slowly sliding over the sand as she approached her.

"Stay away!" Isane declared openly, her Zanpakutō swirling with indigo-lit Reiatsu and a funnel of icy wind following it.

"There's no need to resist," The Arrancar purred as she glided further, now only a handful of meters away from the Shinigami.

"**Fubuki Hitōchi!**" The Lieutenant cried out, swinging the Zanpakutō down to cut the beautiful enemy down.

A loud pang followed by cracks of shattering ice was sounded, as steel met flesh. But instead of her feathery, bare-skinned form, it had been grabbed midway down by Sverrie's open left hand. Effortlessly pushing back against the two-handed grip the taller woman had on the weapon, Sverrie giggled with amusement.

"Was that supposed to hurt? It'll have to take more than a little ice and steel to mar this beautiful body," Sverrie whispered in a sultry tone.

"I-"

"Shhhh," The Privaron shushed her, reaching up with her right hand grab the back of her head, pulling her face close to mesh with hers. Folding her wings around her as to obscure light and keep her from thinking of escape, her lips meshed with hers. Despite the initial revulsion, Isane couldn't help but feel a subtle warmth invade her body through her fingers in her scalp and the taste of her tongue. Even the feathers that covered her seem to sparkle like diamonds, causing her face to slacken and her grip falter on her sword. It didn't take more than half a minute before a visibly flushed Isane had completely succumbed, and was now at Sverrie's mercy.

Unfolding her wings, the Arrancar purposefully showed off her mouth folded over Isane's in a deep kiss, moaning aloud to torture the standing Lieutenants. Releasing her mouth with a wet plop, a dazed grin showed over the wettened lips of her newfound slave. Turning on her heels, she snaked her hands across her bosom and shoulders, working her way to be behind her as she stared off into space with a blank look in her eyes.

"Do you serve Shinigami, my pet?" Sverrie asked as she rubbed Isane's womanly frame in a possessive manner.

"No," She said softly.

"Are you willing to lay your life down for my sake and not theirs?" The Privaron asked, smiling cruelly at the two helpless Lieutenants, knowing they were too afraid with the Captain looming just a meter behind them with sword drawn.

"Yes, I will," Isane said with a giggle at this thought.

"Then allow me to take your life."

A wet splurch followed by an arm impaling Isane from the back out to the middle of her bosom. A look crossed from entranced acceptance to dawning realization what happened. With a mouth leaking of blood, her eyes dilated and her breath gasped, feeling the warmth recede and the knowledge of what happened return to full force. Shakily she looked down, trying reach towards the arm that protruded from her chest. With a sickening withdraw, the arm pulled back, leaving a large hole in her chest. Eyes drained of color and life were seen, her breath hitching just before breathing out a final gasp. Falling forward, the Lieutenant joined the host of bodies now bleeding out on the sandy battlefield.

"I only have need for one pet, sadly," Sverrie said in a bemusing tone, raising her arm up to drag her tongue across her bloodied arm. Smiling darkly at the two Lieutenants, finding Nanao hold back the more livid Momo, whose tears stained her cheeks. Suckling on her fingers of Isane's blood, she blew out a bloodied kiss before licking it clean of filth, "I'm glad you enjoyed the show. Sweet, Byakuya? Please kill these eyesores for me."

"As you command, my love," Byakuya said as he raised his sword back, causing Nanao to pale with knowing and Momo to tremble with anguish-fueled rage.

It was during this moment that a loud clang followed by a instantaneous wall of golden transparent light appeared in the blink of an eye. While Momo looked over her shoulder with her jaw dropped and Nanao blinked with startlement, Sverrie's eyes widened with genuine surprise. Even Byakuya's impeccably unmoved face of contentment was shattered by this sudden inhibiting barrier.

"What-hnnnngh?!" The Captain began to question, suddenly finding his left hand twisted around, forcing him to bend his knees. When he did, another arm put him into a stranglehold, causing him to contort with surprise. Raising his Reiatsu to the surface, he tried to warrant the intruder off but felt himself unable to muster the strength to rise or shake off his attacker.

"Get a hold of yourself, Captain!" Orihime's voice cried out as she held the Shinigami figurehead in place. She could only thank Tatsuki for helping her get the knowledge of martial arts to enable this maneuver. If she didn't know how to defend herself in close quarters, this might not be happening at this moment.

"Wait...who are you?!" Sverrie cried out, her visage twisting into a look of outraged annoyance.

"I'm Orihime Inoue," The girl responded with a fiery glare at Sverrie. Even as Byakuya's silver coat of Reiatsu died out, almost being smothered by her own glowing golden aura, she responded with a loud tone, "I'm friends with Byakuya's sister, Rukia!"

It was at that very moment that the struggling Kuchiki halted his writhes. A word, a simple word, sounded hauntingly familiar. It held a certain strong meaning to him that made him forget his blind adoration to Sverrie.

"Rukia?" Byakuya whispered out loud.

"Don't listen to her!" Sverrie raised her voice, sounding less gentle and more commanding. In emphasis she waved her blood soaked arm as she tried to get Byakuya's attention, "whatever she says doesn't matter! Kill them!"

Struggling to raise his head, Byakuya still felt a strong nagging sensation hammer inside his head. It was enough that it started to actually hurt, his eyes wincing shut and his mouth baring his teeth with a visible hiss. All he could see was a fluttering beauty that was Sverrie but a voice seemed to call out beyond it. It felt like it was someone he knew before Sverrie, if that were possible. Who's voice was it?

"**Byakuya...please find my sister.**"

"Hisana!" Byakuya gasped aloud, his eyes widened with knowing as her face seemed to blend over Sverrie's.

"**Please, do all that is in your power to protect her, and someday be the man who she'd be proud to call, brother.**"

"That's right...I-" Byakuya began to utter to himself when everything that had happened flashed before his eyes. His body shook and his skin paled, with mouth agape at the dawning of his actions. It was an expression hidden by Orihime, but seen by Nanao and Momo. A single tear seemed to trail down his face, eyes closing as his body felt slack under Orihime's grip, head bowed to further hide his face. "forgive me..."

"What are you saying over there?! Whatever it is, I don't care!" Sverrie shouted frantically, desperately trying to regain control. Waving her arms insistently, she shouted further at him, "destroy them! Rip them apart! Aren't you listening to me?!"

"You know," Sedosa droned out, earning a sharp glare that caused the Privaron Octava to recoil with raised hands, "if you want, we can just take over and kill them. They should be no trouble with how few of them there are."

"I don't need your help. I have Byakuya!" Sverrie said insistently, turning her head to call out to her slave, "hey! What did I just say?! Kill them right now!"

"I think we should stay out of this," Patros murmured next to Sedosa, earning a sideglance from the hood adorned Privaron to the Numeros, "it seems this beast doesn't wish to have her meal spoiled. I rather see this played out than get my chest impaled, don't you?"

"But-!"

"**Congratulations, Ryoka, Shinigami of the Gotei 13, and my former Tres Espada,**" A disembodied voice seemed to emanate from the sky, as if it was everywhere, penetrating everyone's minds.

There was no doubt on the petrified visage of Momo, the knowing glance of apprehension on Nanao, the glimmer of fear in Orihime's and the undeniable loathing in the Vanguard Arrancars' faces. It was the undisputed master and lord over Hueco Mundo: Sōsuke Aizen.

* * *

"**You've fought well and bravely against my Arrancar Army. Half of my Espada lie dead, the Vanguard less than full strength, and my fortress infiltrated. Kisuke Urahara and Captain Commander Yamamoto chose wisely to send you all against me. However, my words aren't here to reassure but to demoralize. The whole purpose of your mission, to rescue Orihime Inoue was a ruse. I never required her powers to strengthen the Hōgyoku or restore its power. She was merely bait to lure you all here into Las Noches, away from the rest of your allies so I may cut you all off.**"

"What's he talking about?" Ichigo asked, both to himself and to his enemy standing before him.

"Why the fuck would I know?!" Rana snarled similarly to herself and to her adversary, her eyes joining his to look up at the sky.

"If that isn't the purpose...then why did kidnap Orihime? For kicks? What does he gain from luring us here?" Ichigo asked out loud.

Shortly after he said this, a thunderous thrum was heard radiating the air, as if a large door in the distance had been closed. Craning his neck to the distance, he felt a wave of abnormality disappearing, and the Reiatsu of Las Noches surrounding it returned to normal. Putting two and two together, he quickly realized that there had to been a means for the reinforcements to arrive so quickly within the fortress itself.

"Oh shit," The Substitute swore lowly with wide eyes of dawning ringing as loudly as the sealed doorway.

"They've cut us off!" Nanao shouted with a look of knowing alarm flashing across her face.

"Then, that means," Renji trailed off, looking over at the sickly yet very aware Uryū.

"**I've sealed the Garganta that leads you back to Kisuke Urahara's shop in the world of the living. With you cut off, you won't be able to divulge information about the next stage of my plan nor get aid for what you'll be left to face.**"

"My-My, what a bothersome ordeal we have to overcome," Mayuri said, idly stroking his chin piece, patiently waiting to hear the rest.

"**With all of you trapped here, in Las Noches, I will take my most elite fighters to our true objective. I will go to Karakura Town and forge the Ōken using the populace's one hundred thousand citizens and utilize the innate ****Jūreichi based within its proximity****. From there, it will be a simple matter of ascending to Heaven itself and claim the ultimate prize.**"

"Lord Aizen...you're...planning to kill that many people?!" Nel uttered aloud with a horrified look crossing her face.

"**_They are...necessary if he wishes them to be dispatched for his sake,_**" Sin said with a brief bout of hesitation.

"Sounds like your so-called revered leader isn't as holy as you'd like him to be," Aaron-Chad quipped in a level, accusing tone.

"**_I believe in Lord Aizen!_**" Sin shouted, ready to reengage had it not been for more words to be spoken.

"**Because of the lack of spacings in our ranks, I'll delegate them out as we speak. Rana Zolinder will be the new Quinto. Soto Muerte is the new Sexta. Sverrie is the new Séptima. And of course, Sedosa will be the Novena. I'm counting on you four to dispatch the remaining offenders here. When that is finished or if you need further assistance, know that Yammy will head your way soon. And of course, I leave full control of Las Noches to Ulquiorra Cifer, the Cuatro. Expect him to show up in another hour or so.**"

"Oh Hell," Ichigo hissed, realizing just how bad it could get if he showed back up.

"**Goodbye, Ryoka, my Tres, and Shinigami. If we cross paths again it shall be the end of this era and the beginning of the new one,**" Aizen finished speaking, his voice cutting off and a host of Reiatsu disappearing from everyone's senses.

* * *

"Looks like this changes things, huh?" Ichigo quipped at his female opponent, standing tall with his sword held aloft at his side.

"How do you figure that?" Rana asked with a hiss.

"The fact that Aizen is leaving you all to hang while the rest of his possy want to head to the true objective sounds like he's giving you all the pink slip," Ichigo explained with a wave of his hand, eyes glaring at Rana's barely visible crimson orbs, concealed by a row of fiery bangs. "I don't want to fight you. You may have hurt my friends but I'm willing to let that slide if you can help us get out of here. If we stop Aizen before he achieves his goal, everyone wins, right?"

"Ally with a Shinigami to defeat another Shinigami? Hehehehe...hehehehahahaha...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Rana laughed out loud with a backward tilt of her upper back up to her head. Using her spare hand, she clung at her face with the metal covered digits, dragging it down to tear apart her grin. Only a vicious sneer remained as her bright eyes burned as hot as embers from an inferno. Slowly raising her sword upwards, she spoke to the contrary, "my plan remains the same. Kill Shinigami. Kill the traitor. Kill any Espada left in Las Noches. Then, I go to this damned Karakura Town and kill Aizen along with anyone who stands in my way. It'll be a goddamned massacre by the time I'm done piling bodies and staining the earth with their blood! So if you think you have a chance because some ass on his stone chair decided to give me the damned number five...doesn't help your situation in the least bit!"

With her sword held over her head, its tip pointing to the sky, she turned it so the edge pointed to her right. A foul breath of ash escaped Rana's mouth as sparks crackled along her mane of brilliant scarlet hair, with a burning aura that gradually overtook her entire being. When her skin itself looked like it glowed a dim crimson, she uttered out in a guttural tone that sent a shiver down Ichigo's spine.

"**CONQUER, REINA BESTIA!**"

It was a release that Ichigo hadn't witnessed before. Dordoni's _Giralda_, Grimmjow's _Pantera_, Nnoitra's _Santa Teresa_, Nelliel's _Gamuza_...they all fell short of what he saw with his own two eyes. A bleeding light was cast over the environment as a sword the height and width of a skyscraper erupted from the sand in front of him. He had to leap back using his own superhuman speed to evade the vile tongues of Reishi composed of the rapidly rising Reiatsu signature residing from within. Brimming within was a single figure of scarlet, shifting and changing in shape over the course of the pyre of energy that brandished itself before Ichigo's eyes.

Then, as if an invisible hilt moved the blade of energy to the right, the enormous burning edge crashed into the sandy recesses and dunes. A giant rift of parted sand like a titan's sword parting the sea of gold. Even as tidal waves of grains rolled in either direction of the monolithic blade of massive Reishi, it all began to retract into the burning scarlet figure dwelling within. Twenty heartbeats later, the brilliant fiery aura was constrained around Rana's transformed body, showing the released state before the Substitute Shinigami in all of its terrifying glory.

The simple jaw-adorned row of teeth had risen up and formed a complete secondhand mouth of razor clenched fangs resembling daggers. White alabaster material resembling bone formed a helm over her entire head, with feral eye slits formed at an angle, allowing her red eyes to burn a vicious light through them. Her red hair formed a high-rised ponytail from the top of the helm, flowing down between her shoulders, now affixed with alabaster hued bone armor that possessed upward pointing spikes. With her voluptuous figure accentuated behind the rows of silver scales that wasn't covered by bonemail, her jagged scar above her cleavage now a glaring red that practically glowed from the sign of a mark that never healed. Down her legs now resembled a three-talon pronged foot similar to that of a lizard, similar to the claws stretching from her normal sized digits. Most impressively was the two and a half meter long bone hilt, guardless, double-edged claymore that resembled an enormous prehistoric beast's tooth.

"_**This is where the real fight begins, Shinigami!**_" Rana gutturally proclaimed through her tooth-aligned mask, heated breath escaping the spaces of her razor sharp exterior jaw's teeth. Spreading her legs, she raised the sword one-handed with ease, as if it weighed like paper in her grip. When she swung it down, the true weight of its force was made known to Ichigo.

A jagged light carved through the sand like rows of teeth riding a current like a demonic serpent. Raised as high as Ichigo was tall, they moved quick enough to be on par with the Bala Mente's speed that Ichigo bore witness to before it struck the Bakudō. Swinging his hand over his face with speed only he was capable of, a brief blackness consumed his face with burgundy outlines just before the razor toothed blaze of Reishi impacted.

Grating sounds were emitted as the rail of shredding energy struck a solid surface upon a typhoon of damning blackness erupted from Ichigo's vicinity. Like a F-5 tornado, it contorted into the subtly darkening sky that had been caused by another force, only now augmenting the sheer weight of the howling wind that whipped around in front of Rana's eyes. Standing tall and firm, she only used a spare hand to shield her eyes, peering through the cracks of what her helm allowed at the towering rotational wall of abysmal colored wind.

Crimson lightning bolts of intense Reishi struck out at random, impacting all across the Las Noches interior wastes. Each one that struck the top of a dune caused it to explode in a brilliant flash of scarlet-white light, leaving behind tongues of crimson Reishi in their wake before being snuffed out. Blistering wind pulsed and swirled around the battlefield they had erected themselves for. Even though it was a good handful of kilometers away from the La Muerte site, people from the outlying Palaces were sure to see the spectacle of outrageous power being projected.

With dark storm clouds cracking vivid dark red lightning, leaving behind ominous claps of thunder after each flash, the twister suddenly vanished. What was left was Ichigo Kurosaki, standing there in a aura of thick black Reiatsu, outlined by even deeper red light. Slight additional markings etched upon the mask cemented over his face, showing a pair of hollowfied eyes, burning irises and pitch black sclera to glare back at his opponent.

Rana was agape at what she felt and saw. Behind her stern posture and menacing visage she was baffled at the enemy she was facing. Enormous Reiatsu that seemed the reach out and touch the heavens, expanding into the horizon like a thick storm that sucked the air out of a lesser being's lungs. She could feel static along her exposed scaled skin, as the raw Reishi unleashed from his transformation continued to linger long after donning the mask. The latter detail caused her to clench her grip on her sword hard enough to shake it, as she could clearly feel both Shinigami and Hollow Reiatsu in tandem coming from her opponent.

"_What the Hell are you?!_" Rana asked silently, though her body burned with even stronger rage despite her initial apprehension.

"**_You're right, Rana,_**" Ichigo said with a beckoning tone, slightly angling his blade up towards her as he stood strongly in the face of his enemy, "**_this is where we fight for keeps!_**"

Grinning behind her exterior row of teeth, she gripped the blade with both hands, body brilliantly blazing a bright scarlet light. Seeing her enemy do the same, only with a damning blackness outlined with deep red, she shouted with concurrence, "**_That's more like it! After all, this is a battle of life and death! One walks away and the other is left to rot! LET'S HAVE A TRUE HUECO MUNDO DUEL, ICHIGO KUROSAKI!_**"

Leaping forward in a blur of motion that left a wave of sand uproared from his feet, Rana followed suit. Both warriors met each other mere meters above the sandy ground, their swords clashing with a ringing that was deafened by the shockwave indenting and leveling the sand for dozens of meters around them. With a dark bubble of erupting Reiatsu expanding outwards till it struck the storm clouded skies, the two failed to realize the cataclysmic combination their competing powers had on their environment.

The false blue sky, filled with white clouds, slowly cracked and fissured across the immense canopy over their heads. Slowly, but surely, it was only a matter of time before the sky itself began to fall through the dark veil of their battle's storm that continued to rage on. It was the one thing that everyone wanted to avoid but couldn't any longer.

Las Noches' destruction is at hand!

* * *

**A/N:** Whew! That took awhile to update. I do apologize, the combination of weather conditions (below negative degrees here), New Year's blues (slow at work and depressing at home) I needed extra time to work on this Chapter on a more leisurely pace. Thankfully, from the way I see things from up here, it was well worth the wait. Hopefully you all agree as well

Let's go over a few things, shall we?

First on the list, Orihime. Kind of a poor thing to be neglected, used, and tossed aside so easily due to the small mind that Kubo had when he created this wonderful character. I in no space of the imagination ever loathed her. My only problem is that Kubo never tried to take any risks, like I did, to make her something MORE than a plot device, damsel, or just "that friend of Ichigo's,". While I had no real intention upon starting this story to give her the kind of development I had, I felt like she deserved it. Considering how she was able to stand in the presence of the Espada without ever feeling their passive Reiatsu smother her always struck me as odd. Only Aizen and the Hogyoku seemed to do that kind of thing, which is understandable due to them being godly powerful and the other a godly powerful marble. So I hypothesized that, because the way her powers work on will (moreso than even Ichigo's and other Shinigami's) I deduced that she had grown exponentially stronger without her even realizing it. In this instance, being in peril and watching someone at death's door pushed her over that edge, unlocking a good deal of the true power that dwelled within her.

Okay, with that biggie out of the way, I think I can lightly touch upon the others.

Mayuri's ability to just MOVE (let alone LIVE) without any real explanation how he can despite filling his body with "duplicate parts" that had no real meaning in the first place since Szayel crushed them all and didn't really faze the bastard. I came up with a more sciency explanation that fit Mayuri's expertise and repertoire. Even better, I had a nice callback to his experience with battling Uryū and using his knowledge of Ransōtengai for the basis of his specialized surgery.

I hope you all liked the various fights (and fanservice, ha!) I placed into this Chapter. Next Chapter will be amping up and wrapping up some fights so we can focus more on Ichigo vs Rana. Hope you're all as excited as I am for the next update of **A Predator Among Us!**


	8. Falling Sky, Rolling Thunder

**Burning Heavens Fall Upon Us**

**Evil's Maiden Dances To Her Final Tune**

**Lightning Shatters The Monster's Bones**

**The Predator Feasts Under The Dark Veil**

**Turmoil Rages Within The Doll's Heart.**

* * *

The storm raged over Aaroniero's head.

It was a blanket of combating Reiatsus, completely displayed out in the open and a mark their powers couldn't be contained. Bolts of red, white and blue cracked across the artificial heavens with the occasional handful glassing the sandy landscape. Showers of glass and dust flowered the air around the dome of refracting light, flickering intermittently by the force of discharging Reishi impacting around her.

In her mind's eye, using her Pesquisa, it was like the entire vista of her senses had been drenched in red. Such virulent pressure filled her senses that it was becoming harder to focus on her multi-tasking, issuing beads of sweat to crawl down her forehead and neck. Grounding her molars together with mounting waves of irritation she knew that she had to do something if she was maintain her advantage over the enemy.

During such comprehension, something occurred that she had completely overlooked. Like glass being carved by diamond an audible snap was heard above the roaring thunder. Following this was a number of combustions that she could picture like orange and yellow fissures above her. Eyes opened and pupils dilated at the sudden images of fiery debris raining through the clouds down to the sand below.

"_The Canopy is rupturing_!" Aaroniero whispered out loud.

Raising her head to look through the transparent barrier placed over her squatting frame, she could already see an enormous piece of rubble heading towards her. Ironically, it had a picture of the Sun on it, entombing the durable piece of infrastructure in molten tongues. Reishi bounced to and fro, crashing into the pieces of the sky occasionally shattering them in brilliant flashes of light. But this was so dense and large that it easily could have been the size of one of the Palaces dedicates to the Espada and easily absorbed the lightning strikes as it continued to lumber downwards.

Retracting her widened eyes into a narrow glare, she brought her agape expression under control. Standing high enough that her body passed through the envelope of her barrier with it fizzling out of view soon after, she stared up at the rumbling meteorite. It looked like the Sun itself was coming down to bear upon her, crushing her underfoot and wiping her out of existence. The sands distilled and the air waves emitting from the artificial sky already began flattening the dunes surrounding her.

The looming shadow of the burning rock heading towards her engulfed the landscape. It spread outward till an orange and golden glow of the flames curtaining its massive frame colored the pale sands below. Just seconds away from crushing the possessed Shinigami, the to-be victim's hair flourished around her crown as much as her beige cloak over her Shihakushō.

Then, all at once, an explosive pyre of violet Reishi discharged from her person. Shooting upward like a geyser of light, it crashed into facsimile Sun, splintering its face. The falling debris flames became snuffed out as gravity itself was defied in the face of such powerful energy. Violent cracks spread outward like a web, splintering the haphazardly shaped sky piece. Without even ten seconds passing, the entirety of the smoldering boulder was pierced through by the beam, detonating it soon after.

"_So this is my full Reiryoku?_" Aaroniero thought as she looked upwards, watching the fake Sun eliminated by her own power. The blaze of her own Reishi deafened her from the rumbling thunder of the storm, the clouds parting before the tower of light that pierced it into Hueco Mundo's true sky. Waves of pressure blew back the many fiery stones falling from the dark storm clouds, twisting around as a semblance of a cyclone formed around the distance that she stood upon.

Smiling, she relaxed, snuffing out her power to a more composed state. Feeling her cloak flow back over body, she began treading under the moon lit hole in the storming sky. A dark smile spread as her feet kicked off from the sand, speeding away, becoming a wraith of motion.

"_I refuse to stand by and play Commander. My goal is too close to completion to just be idle_," Aaroniero thought as a carnal grin spread ear to ear, eyes alight with a violet hue with pupils becoming abysmal slits, "_I will seize it with my own two hands. No one, not the Shinigami or these Privaron bastards will stop me!_"

* * *

**Chapter Eight - Falling Sky, Rolling Thunder**

* * *

**La Muerte Field, Zero Hour**

Overwhelming.

It's how Sverrie could describe in a single word what it felt like to be amidst the Reishi storm. Two colliding Reiatsus flowing outwards at an uncontrollable rate, depicting the fierceness of their battle from afar. She couldn't even see where they were and it was almost akin to standing beside them. Monstrous, carnal and wrathful; they were the embodiment of passionate warfare.

Yet, when she looked at the human girl, who now stood above the ground prone Shinigami she had enslaved there was something off. She saw a look that spoke bounds of her awe to what she was experienced. But instead of being swept away by it, she stood still, as if she was unaffected by the howling gusts of wind and chaotic strikes of crimson, white and azure lightning dancing around them.

"_She's acting like...she's better than me!_" Sverrie thought, her beautiful heavenly features becoming shrouded by an ugly sneer. Brows knitted together as her eyes squinted into a dangerous glare. Her own complementary Reiatsu seemed to buffet the invasive air waves sent their way by the storm, even scattering several downward lightning bolts. Much to her pleasure she saw the pair of Lieutenants fall back onto their haunches, joining their demoralized senior officer in the scattering dust.

All it did to Orihime, however, was return her attention to her.

"You should leave," She told in a passively commanding tone to the re-christened Espada, "at this rate, this whole place will start falling ontop of us."

"Tch," The Espada tsked, cocking her head to turn her chin up at her new adversary, "you must truly take me for a fool. This light show is nothing but a charade. The only ones capable of collapsing Las Noches are those numbered of Quatro and above when using their sword releases. Do you think that this Substitute Shinigami and Rana have that kind of-"

"Sverrie!"

"What?!" The Swan Arrancar shrieked with indignation, turning her head to look at Sedosa. Both her and a pale faced Patros, she realized the instant a deafening crack was heard above the incredible roar of repeated thunder claps. Turning to look up she let out a gasp at what she witnessed.

Arcing with virulent bolts of Reishi, portions of the faux blue canopy began to descend through the blanket of pitch black storm clouds. Some alight with electrical conductivity, others smoldering in flames the debris came down from hundreds of smaller pieces to dozens of immensely wide boulder shaped parts. Casting shadows across the flashing and opaqued landscape, it looked like the sky was falling down on their heads.

"Nelliel used her Resurrecion earlier," Orihime iterated, her eyes widened at the rain of rubble heading down towards them, "she used that black Cero of hers. On top of that, Ichigo and that Arrancar both used their strongest forms simultaneously. I'm surprised the fortress didn't fall apart sooner, even now..."

"Stop cowering, all of you!" Sverrie shouted out, turning on her heels to face her two cohorts. Raising a commanding hand towards them, she gestured above her head, swinging it to the side as she yelled further, "both of you, destroy the canopy heading towards us. Show them just how powerful you two are and it'll make it more satisfying to crush them underfoot."

Sighing, Patros squatted and grasped his sword, noticing that Sedosa held her bow-blade in front of her aloft. Both of their bodies became engulfed with a mantle of Reiatsu, with Patros colored orange while Sedosa was a deep purple. Just as the first wave of rocks came down atop their vicinity, they announced their release commands simultaneously.

"**Defile, Gerifalte!**"

"**Eviscerate,** **Araña del Abismo!**"

Twin plumes of violet and orange Reishi blasted upwards, scattering the rocky hail surrounding them. When revealed beyond the haze of transforming light, Patros adopted a hulking arm-less beast with an armored torso and twin pauldrons affixed to his shoulders. His mask covered his entire visage, giving him a broad toothy expression, his previously combed hair now matted over his pale skull. He stood taller than his erect sealed posture, despite his hunched disposition, looking quite fearsome as any released Arrancar.

Sedosa, however, appeared to take an eloquent appearance contrasting most of her kin. A grey-purple complexion was pronounced from her exposed navel up to her spider tattooed breasts that were unrestrained by any top, appearing to be part of the intricate twin creatures sported over her chest. A pair of forked pauldrons in deep onyx wrapped into sleeves that covered both hands, now sporting a pair of metal guards that showed a pair of crossbows over wrists. Below the waistline flowed out the six-legged black bodied, white spiral designed body of a large spider abdomen. Her dark violet hair flowed down her naked back, her hood unfurled to reveal a dark lipped and exotically colored face of a strong cheekboned woman. If one was to look closely, her tongue sported a hole through its center, drawn more notice as she licked her teeth with excitement.

"Let's remove these annoyances after we're done cleaning this up," Sedosa suggested as she pointed both of her arms up at the hailing sky.

"_**For once, I can agree with someone on that notion!**_" He mulled out through his mask, raising his hulking form to bear aim at the raining rocks.

In the instant they did so, they saw a cacophony of golden flashes rip through the air, outpacing than the distant lightning bolts. It tore through the haphazardly falling debris, disintegrating it and obliterating their substance as it danced through the heavens. Even the monstrous scaled pieces of the sky ceiling were blown away by the instantaneous attacks, as if they were mere nuisances.

Turning to look at Sverrie, she looked up gawking in the same manner they did. After exchanging a few glances, they turned to look at Orihime, who's hand was raised. A single pin had detached from her set, showing that she had awakened Tsubaki to rapidly streak across the skyline. After it seemed a square kilometer of the dropping canopy was blown away, she called him back to hover around her head, circling her protectively as she stared off at the aghast Shinigamified Hollows.

"_She did all of that in seconds_," Sedosa realized, feeling herself back away apprehensively, "_I couldn't even track that _thing's_ movements. Is...is her Reiryoku higher than all of ours?_"

"_**You impudent human!**_" Patros growled out with uncharacteristic animosity. While Sverrie silently stewed with indignant anger, the formerly two-faced Arrancar possessed a loathing for humans even greater than the two of them combined. This was only strengthened in his true state, and witnessing the equivalent of showing off crossed the line for him. "_**are you challenging us?!**_"

"I was protecting my friends," Orihime said with absolution, her eyes bathing in an eerie golden glow that seeped into her white cloaked form. "you were only concerned about yourselves. As long as you stand there, intent on spilling their blood, I will not stand by and watch it happen!"

"You've got a lot of nerve, _girl_," Sverrie hissed, taking a few strides to put herself towards her right flank. With her eyes meeting the human's, she let her smile spread in a cruel fashion across her face. Waving her arms to either side, she chuckled, snapping her fingers with afterthought, "I'm going to enjoy watching you squirm. Patros! Turn her to dust!"

"_**Gladly!**_" Patros snarled appreciatively, bearing aim at Orihime and the rest of the grounded Shinigami.

"Wait, Patros-!" Sedosa reached out, alarm coloring her attractive features.

"_**Nivel Veinte!**_" He roared out, the leftmost pauldron unfastening, opening up like a claw. Let loose in a torrent of pale yellow stream of Reishi, the sand parted and funneled around the beam of light. Even as his attack persisted he laughed out in murderous glee at the thought of destroying another human-

A streak of light followed by a whistling sound passing by his head, and Patros found his attack was bisected all the way through his body. In the shape of a thin yet tall disc, Tsubaki flew through his Reishi beam, cutting him down straight through the middle. A look of incredulity briefly crossed his face before the blood geysered through either side of his skull following the rest of his body, falling limply onto the ground. At that

"_He was cut down...that easily?!_" Sedosa thought with alarm, pulling back her arms as she caught sight of Orihime's focused visage. It held a hint of sorrow within her gaze but wasn't moved at seeing Patros dying at her hands. Gritting her teeth, the Spider Arrancar raised her arms trembling to take aim but couldn't find the courage to pull the trigger.

"Don't," Orihime warned out, just as quickly forming a **Santen Kesshun **with a swift flex of her right arm. A loud crack echoed the air as a Reishi infused fist struck its golden transparent field. The glowering Sverrie appeared with teeth bared, looking more feral than delicate as she once did.

"Cower before a human? Retreat? I'm opportunistic but not fearful!" Sverrie retorted, slamming one fist again and again at the durable defense of her target. After the seventh punch didn't budge the field, she palmed it with the opposing hand, charging a rosy colored Cero at its center. Until it overcast her view of the girl behind it did she fire it, allowing it to lap over the triangle as she roared out with fury. "Roll Over And Die!"

A faint whistling sound was heard again, passing over Sedosa's left shoulder, streaking faster than she could visualize. By the time Sverrie turned her head to her own right to see the source, an overwhelming sensation of pain bore through her arm. It continued even as it fell to the ground, her stump profusely spewing out blood as the Cero she was firing fizzled out, popping and snapping till nothing was left.

"I told you to stop," Orihime said confidently, once again retaining Tsubaki's place over her head in a spinning in a circular fashion. "will you now listen to reason?"

"This is...far...from over!" Sverrie growled, her hand now clenching her bleeding stump as she backed away from Orihime. Looking sharply at Sedosa, a ferocious surge filled her being at the petrified Arrancar. Kicking off the sand in a swift Sonido, her body carried her across space quick enough that she whizzed in front of her cohort without a second delay.

"Sv-ulk!" Sedosa began to say until her throat was wrapped into a merciless choke hold by the winged entity.

"You dare call yourself an Espada? You didn't even try to stop her. Patros is dead and I've just lost my arm," Sverrie hissed out, watching as her hand slowly snapped the woman's neck until her head nearly popped off. In a shower of gore that she carelessly lapped over her white and pure front, she coldly let her drop lifelessly to the ground, turning on her heels to walk away from it, "consider that retribution."

Orihime was horrified at what she saw. It had all happened so fast. One moment she was hellbent on killing her and clinging to her wound. The next she turned her aggression at her own ally, killing her in cold blood. Feeling her hands ball up into fists at her sides, her own calm Reiatsu soon rose up considerably as she set her sights at her.

"She was your comrade! Why did you kill her?!" She yelled out, her blood boiling with righteous anger at the unrepentant stare she received by the simmering Arrancar.

"Her betrayal couldn't be overlooked. I can't have trash too scared to bear arms against the enemy," She answered nonchalantly, taking long strides towards her. It was when her limbs locked up that she registered the intensity of her enemy's Reiatsu. Like a veil of hot metal, she could barely move forward, especially in her state.

Looking at the dazed Byakuya, she tried her hand again at calling him to her.

"Byakuya! Come to your Mistress!" She commanded, her tone stern and purposeful.

At that moment, Orihime felt Byakuya's own Reiatsu rise. Turning to look at his ragged yet unharmed person, a familiar stoic expression crossed his face. His hand clenched the sword hilt till his knuckles were pale white, the only thing resembling emotion from his otherwise dispassionate being. Before she could ask what was going on, his body flickered out of view, reappearing in front of the Swan Arrancar.

"Yes, that's my Ba-" Sverrie greeted him with swelling joy at the sight of her beloved servant. The feeling of cold steel thrusting through her bosom, however, did nothing but cement a look of fearful shock across her face. Shakily looking down, her hands trembled towards the offending object, watching it slide further into her chest.

"You laid your hands on me," Byakuya spoke calmly, holding a cold venom as his eyes stared hauntingly still at Sverrie's face, "turned me against my comrades. Not only that but you tarnished the memory of my greatest Pride. For making me forget that promise I've yet to fulfill I shall end your life and leave not a trace of you to be carried in the wind."

Releasing his hold on the sword, it suddenly sunk into her body, rippling her skin in a sickening if not intriguingly mesmerizing fashion. Lowering his hand to his side, Byakuya murmured out loud the deadly promise of execution, "**Bankai**."

"Unnnnnngh...rrrrrrrrrgh...glrrrrrrrmmmmmgh!" Sverrie groaned and garbled out as she felt impossibly enormous blades furrow out of her body without cutting her to ribbons. Through her back, breasts, hands, legs, feet and hands. Even her mouth seemed to protrude a metal ribbon of steel out that dwarfed her own head. Almost nothing but her quivering, tear stricken eyes were left to be seen as her angelic figure was marred by the hundreds of towering blades sticking out of her body.

Turning on his heels, Byakuya left her behind as he whispered with finality, "**Scatter, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi.**"

A brief glitter of pink was followed with a sudden scream that lapsed the air and sandy ground. An instantaneous geyser of blood flourished upwards, soon exploding into dark grey dust that was evaporated within the wind that the Bankai was carried through. Swirling around in a majestic display of beauty and power, Byakuya's Zanpakutō swirled around in a beautiful dance, returning into his hand as a sword shortly afterwards.

"C-Captain," Nanao stuttered out, amazed she had the opportunity to witness such a spectacle. At the same time, she couldn't help but feel sorrow for what had happened and looked at the various bodies surrounding them. Returning to look at him, she saw his body grace past him as she tried to mouth out encouragement, "I-"

"My actions here may not have been my intent, but they are still my burden to bear," He responded matter-of-fact, not allowing himself to look any of them in the eye. "I regret not doing this sooner for I had took the lives of Shinigami and suffered indignation worst than I could have imagined. I ask not that you forgive me, Lieutenant, but that you not speak of the matter till judgement is passed upon me after this ordeal."

Momo bowed her head, balling her fists as she stared hard into the sand. She knew there was nothing she could say or do to help soothe the situation. Just glancing at Nanao's helpless expression, it was clear that she was out of ideas just how to make amends.

That was, until they heard as much they felt Orihime's presence at the places where their comrades had fallen.

"Miss Inoue?" Nanao queried with confusion, looking over at the strawberry blonde bending over Isane's body. Despite the roaring thunder lingering in the background, its howling winds now returning to lap across their bodies, she couldn't help but focus her stare at her. A sudden golden glow was suddenly generated from her Shun Shun Rikka, forming a dome over the cold husk that was Lieutenant Kotetsu.

"What is she doing?" Momo asked, slowly rising to her feet while the Captain turned in response of the commotion. When the glow dissipated and the dome disappeared, all grew still, as if expecting something. Then, they saw Isane rise suddenly, looking around with stark confusion while issuing a startled gasp by Momo and Nanao respectively.

Even Byakuya took a step back with amazement at what occurred.

"W-W-Where am I? What happened?" Isane stood shakily to her feet, her memory hazy of what transpired. Everything seemed like it was a blur and she couldn't shake a horrible feeling. That was, until Momo leaped into her arms and tackled her to the ground with joy; much to the amazon built Lieutenant, "Momo?!"

"You're alive! I'm so glad you're alive, Isane!" She blurted out as her tear-stricken face buried itself into her bosom.

"I...I died?" Isane asked, knowing full well the answer to her question. Looking over to Orihime, she nodded somberly before turning away. Watching her walk away, she tried to reach out to her, but couldn't find the words to say.

"That horrible Arrancar...she...she..." Momo trailed off, wiping her face with her sleeves as Byakuya and Nanao approached with inquisitive eyes.

"You died," Byakuya bluntly stated, eyes narrowing at her, "slain by the Arrancar who bewitched me. I saw the light dim in your eyes before you fell. Yet...you were brought back."

"Perhaps," Nanao began to say, watching Orihime apply a similar treatment to Kiyone and Sentarō, both of them looking confused at their present states of living. "Aizen's desire to acquire Orihime wasn't completely based on a purpose to bait us. It's possible he wished to use her power for some other purpose."

"Regardless, he doesn't need her any longer," Captain Kuchiki dismissed immediately, watching Orihime smile at those she brought back from the dead. His attention would be stolen with another explosion in the distance, this one causing the very sands underneath their feet to shift. A crimson white light expanded outward, sending all the canopy's remaining debris scattering across the collapsing desert fortress.

Lowering his raised arm that shielded his face, he could see an unusual warp in space, almost like a mirage. Easily a few kilometers away he saw a silhouette just as Nanao made a curious comment. Something that made everyone shuffle nervously.

"Where are the bodies?"

Momo, the two 3rd Seats and Orihime all turn towards Nanao's worried expression, trailing it to see only bloodstained outlines in the sand. Sure enough, the bodies of Novena Espada Sedosa Belleza and Arrancar #59 Patros were gone without a trace. Even Sverrie's absentmindedly forgotten arm was gone, as if all had evaporated into thin air.

* * *

**1 Kilometer south of La Muerte Field, Zero Hour**

Chōjirō could barely believe his luck.

The friction between the two Reiatsus, one he almost couldn't recognize but confirmed was Ichigo's, had generated a storm of Reishi. Amidst his struggle to maintain a defense against the Segunda's empowered form, one that was now only as thick as glass, he saw him stop and pause at the sensation he felt. The continuous output of his own Reishi through his Zanpakutō into the sky now felt unnecessary.

He made it in time, thanks to the Substitute Shinigami.

"_I'll make sure to thank him later_," Chōjirō mentally noted. Swinging his Shikai downward, causing his barrier to collapse and startle Soto out of his awestruck reverie. Taking a step forward, his blade alight with golden energy, he shouted dramatically, "why don't we see how well that form of yours fairs against this?!"

Leaping back in a Sonido enhanced somersault, the Raptor Arrancar landed atop of a carved sand dune. Seeing a distant spark he chuckled at his own fortune at his now enhanced reflexes. This Shikai's true power didn't seem to even test him at this point. That's what he believed, until the sky thunder clapped and his whole body lit up in a dramatic searing spasm.

"What?!" He thought with anguished bewilderment, stumbling back as pieces of his armored carapace felt brittle, snapping embers of blackened skin revealed underneath his durable Hierro. Even his mask was starting to crumble, revealing a grimacing expression as his eyes glared forth.

"That was one strike, Arrancar," Chōjirō stoically declared, swinging his rapier to his side before bringing it to visually divide his visage. Tendrils crawled up and down his blade, sporadically snapping in the air to express its controlled energy. Pointing it towards him in a challenging manner, the Lieutenant promised vocally, "how many can that body of yours withstand?"

"Big talk, Shinigami," Soto spat, taking a step forward, crossing his arm-mounted scimitars together to grind in a threatening gesture. With the edges glowing a bright emerald, the Arrancar leaped forward, bringing himself within a bare meter in front of his target. Swinging his arms out, a geyser of Reishi cutting power was unleashed before his gaze, "**Lacerar!**"

But in the instant it was released, it vanished with the sight of a explosive blaze of electricity. His metal weapons absorbed the power unintentionally, causing him to roar out in waves of pain as his body cracked and popped with glowing burns of shocks. Stumbling backwards, it was all he could do to keep standing, heaving heavy breaths before his nemesis.

"I commend you for withstanding the second strike," Chōjirō murmured, his voice barely audible above the rumble and claps of thunder to explosions scattering across the sandy landscape. Fiery debris already started to fall through the storm's envelope, peppering the ground with its smaller pieces while also heading down to their heads. Without even looking at the scale of some of the burning rock, Chōjirō swung his Zanpakutō to his right, invisibly commanding the storm to discharge dozens of bolts to lash out at the shrapnel aimed to crush their vicinity. In a flash of gold he continued with a composed disposition, "but this is my domain now. This next attack will be the end for you."

"I will not give into you, Shinigami!" Soto yelled out, pointing both bloodied arms towards the Lieutenant. Swiftly an emerald orb grew rapidly in size, expanding and thrumming with forced focus as he coughed raggedly at doing so. Laughing morosely, he smiled venomously as his enemy. "I'll die standing instead of cowering before another of your kind! Now, take this-!"

"**Genzen Jukei!**" Chōjirō shouted with a mighty swing of his sword, striking the sand before his feet. A mighty clap of thunder was felt from below, just as an orb of glowing golden light swirled and took shape in the heavens. In a flash of golden light, an immensely proportioned lightning bolt arced down and over the Lieutenant's head, barreling straight through the late firing Cero before hitting the Arrancar head on. Hair was burned away, skin melted and soon even his remains turned to ashes in the wake of the blistering attack that carved a deep glassed trench for a great distance before the Shinigami's eyes.

"Rest in peace, proud Hollow. May your next life be better than the one you've lived," Chōjirō bowed his head respectfully, lowering his sword to his side in reverence of his enemy. He knew, had the elements not been at his favor, he surely would have been killed. It was just another reminder of how grateful he was to Ichigo for having increased the stakes in his current fight.

Distantly, though, he felt the waiting line of enemies ready themselves to assault. Brandishing his weapon the Lieutenant awaited the two dozen foes he could sense lying in wait. They had been careful, avoiding detection and keeping out of sight. Allowing their more foolhardy brethren and elitists to perish so they may have a chance of beating exhausted targets.

He knew at this moment they were to be dead wrong.

But as the rumbling of the thunder continued, the distant explosions of fights still ongoing, he felt something suddenly happen. A signature had materialized beyond the hills of sand, vile and foreign to his recognition. Cacophony of screams and flashing lights were seen, followed by plumes of flames and bodies rising then falling just as quickly. When the plethora of cries and spikes of Reiatsu had rose just as suddenly he felt an eerie silence.

Swallowing a parched throat, Chōjirō hesitantly tread forth, supplementing with a handful of Shunpo. By the time he arrived, he saw a number of craters with trails of vapor leaving their impact sites. Among the piles of blood and bodies was a single figure, hunched over a particular corpse. A single tendril was lancing out, voraciously consuming one body among the pile after another, leaving sickening splashes of decaying flesh and ichor in its wake. When another flash of lightning illuminated the silhouette, Chōjirō's voice hitched as he called out with confusion.

"Miss Kuchiki?" The Lieutenant asked with a startled, almost disbelieving tone.

Sighing, a slitted pair of pupils bordered by purple irises turned to glare at the 1st Division's right hand man. With a sword in hand she rushed in a beige cloaked blur, appearing far faster than the man could predict. Sword meeting flesh, the man's mouth overflowed with blood as his eyes widened with shock.

"You really shouldn't have looked, Lieutenant Sasakibe," Aaroniero said as his eyes stared up, a wicked smile playing upon her deceivingly soft face. Raising her left arm, still in the form of a blood soaked tentacle, she thrust it into his chest. Producing a sickening crunch and squelching tear, she finished speaking as her feast continued, "at the very least, now you'll know what it's like to be part of a greater being!"

* * *

**20 Kilometers From La Muerte Field, Minutes Prior to Zero Hour**

"H-Hey!" Uryū called out, coughing more blood out of his mouth as his breath escaped in wheezes.

Mayuri turned his head away from the purposefully slow eating of Szayelaporro. The only thing that remained was a single tendril, wrapped tightly around a squirming Verona. He pleaded and squealed, like a pig caught in a noose. He had a morbid fascination but was pestered incessantly by the profusely bleeding Quincy.

"What is it?" He asked in a grated tone.

"Are you just going to leave us to die here? Huh?" He inquired angrily, his eyes still jabbing daggers at his nemesis.

"Take it easy, you're not doing yourself any favors," Renji attempted to calm his ally, but quickly got an equally angry look at him before it was redirected back at the Captain.

"Hey! I'm talking to you! Don't just ignore me!" Uryū rammed a fist into the sand, rasping for breaths to shout more at the decadent scientist.

"Be quiet," Mayuri sighed, picking one of his ears idly as he looked at Verona squirm while he was drawn higher towards the chewing mouth of his Bankai, "you're becoming an annoyance. Need I remind you what I do to things that annoy me, hmmmm?"

"With all due respect, Captain, Ichigo may not be happy to hear that one of his comrades got jack squat when he could have lived thanks to you. I wonder how long you'd last against him or any of the other guys that call him friend?" Renji cocked a challenging grin, full well knowing the ramifications of goading such a...precariously balanced individual.

Turning around, Mayuri's golden teeth spread from ear to ear, giving him a chilling appearance as he strode over to them. Leaning over so he could look directly down at Renji, colored in flashes of crimson, blue and gold by the Reishi lightning crackling above his head he whispered in an amused tone, "Are you threatening me with the prospect of that _Ryoka _will harm me? Is that your way of convincing me to save your miserable, pitiful lives? What makes you believe I have anything to fear from him or his band of misfits?"

"Easy," The Captain heard the Quincy answer for the Lieutenant, the sound of a bow materializing followed by an arrow being pulled back gave the Shinigami pause. Looking over, despite his weathered condition, Uryū was standing in an unnaturally stiff posture. Recognizing it as the Ransōtengai, his smile regressed into a displeased frown, "I think you may be cautious but you're also a coward. If an enemy you never fought came at you with power greater than your own, I suspect that you could do little against him. I can see that, even as weak as I am, there might be a chance I could make it very painful for you to end my life. Do keep in mind that, as smart as you are, I dare call myself a bit more intelligent than you when it comes to common sense."

For the longest time, the rumble of thunder was all that filled the tension filled land. Renji looked practically agape at the Quincy's bold accusation and the audacity of his actions. Mayuri seemed to lock a silent glare at the boy, his gait not turning from his his halfway pose. Even as their gazes met, there was something akin to an enigmatic twinkle in his eyes. Turning his head, he sighed and raised his hand, calling out.

"Nemu."

In an instant, Uryū found his arm caught and pulled in a painful twist behind him. With an arm wrapped around his neck, he could feel the strain of the shoulder nearly rending out of the socket. With a firm kick to the back of his knee, the Lieutenant forced him back onto the ground, his arm still held at a disadvantageous angle to keep him faceplanted in the sand.

"For someone who boasts of common sense, you really didn't think I could cover my bases and be unguarded by the likes of little you? I'm wondering if anything you said has credibility now, Quincy boy," Mayuri chided with a thin lipped smile, looking down all the while Uryū groaned and coughed with effort.

"Captain, if you'd please-"

A pitiful wail interrupted Renji's plea, causing all to turn their eyes to the Fracción. Verona squirmed and convulsed, the tendril wrapped around him seeming to pull away from his belly where a trickle of blood was to be seen at his navel. A pair of lips stretched across the tentacle's end, speaking out loud in a haughty tone, "**Did you really think you had bested me, Captain?**"

"No way! He's still alive?!" Renji exclaimed with horror, while Uryū just stared fearfully at the talking tendril.

"**Behold! Fornicarás' greatest technique, Gabriel!**" The voice declared, becoming more disembodied as Verona began to swell outward like a balloon. Soon it was almost too much for him to take, before a head of pink hair began to escape his mouth. The voice continued to explain even as he escaped his crude rebirth chamber, "**I impregnate the host with my tentacle, putting a part of my cells inside of them. Then, I feed on their essence, stealing their Reiryoku and stamina to completely revive myself. At the very last moment, I become anew, and they are left to rot as a husk.**"

Finishing his explanation, his body slithered out in complete released form, now slathered in evaporating internal juices. Rising to full stature his smile stretched ear to ear with pride of his rebirth. He drank in the wide-eyed stare from the Captain, fear-driven looks by the Lieutenant and the Quincy. The only one that didn't seem intimidated or impressed by the sight was the Captain's own subordinate, whom simply kept a mild stare aimed at him.

Regardless, he was satisfied by his grand re entrance into the battlefield. Chuckling, he waved a hand out towards Mayuri, "You may find yourselves at a lost of what this means. I shall put it into the simplest terms your puny minds can fathom. You cannot win against me. I'll keep coming back, like the mythical phoenix of human folklore, burning out and lighting aflame once more every lifetime. In essence I am an Immortal Being that cannot die and will never fall to any Shinigami or Hollow's hands."

Pointing at the Phaoroh toting Captain, he then asked in a beguiling knowledgeable tone, "Now then, shall we start with the reintroductions, Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi?"

"No," The Captain responded bluntly, his stare taking in the sight with less than mild entertainment. "there's no need, Arrancar, since you've haven't changed your tune nor your appearance."

Szayel's visage retracted his smile, his eyes squinting with a twitching glare at his enemy. Watching the Captain approach with a few footsteps, he stood still, angrily observing his intentions.

"An Immortal, hm? Is that all you are?" Mayuri asked, bending his head to the side, waving his arms with impatience, "come now, if you're hiding anything else, don't be shy. I want to know everything there is to know about you. Please don't tell me that's all you have?"

Raising a hand, the Espada curled his digits in a way that indicated a desire for the Captain to step closer. Upon the revealing of an ominous shadow encroaching over the Shinigami's vicinity, that assumption would have been false. In an instance, the monstrous Bankai dove head first to clamp its jaws over its creator.

"What the-?!" Renji began to exclaim, watching the sand wash over him from the force of the attack.

"It attacked its own master?!" Uryū asked incredulously, still caught in the grip of his feminine captor. Despite all of this, she didn't seem fazed in the slightest by these revelations. He wondered if she was just a doll at this point, but he could definitely attest she had the capacity to feel and emote from his last encounter with her. He could only wonder what just happened until Szayel broke out into a fit of mocking laughter.

"Serves you right underestimating me, Shinigami!" Szayel began crowing out, watching the Bankai smother its head into the sand, its maw enclosed completely around the Captain. Pointing at it, he grinned sadistically at the others, eager to explain the phenomena unfolding before their eyes. "any creature that devours a part of my body gets infected by my cells. I don't need to understand the flow of your Bankai's structure but I can tell its organic. Woe is you for having a living creature as your source of ultimate po-"

What came next was a massive pop, sending gelatinous chunks of flesh and ichor scattering throughout the air. Much to his chagrin as the others, parts of the gore flitted over the Espada and his enemies. Wiping the blood off his face his dropped at the sight of his enemy perfectly unharmed. Besides being bathed on rapidly evaporating saliva, he held his sword erect as the remains of the Bankai transmuted into crimson Reishi flowing into his blade's sealed state.

"My-My, how sneaky of you, turning my own Bankai against me," Mayuri jeered at the Arrancar, grinning toothily as he waved his sword pointedly at his enemy, "I modified my Zanpakutō that, for any reason it turn against me, it will self destruct. I haven't been a Captain this long without taking precautions so don't take me for any imbecile you take under your employ."

"Tch, so that's why you were so calm," Uryū murmured, unable to look up at the mute smile Nemu had on her face to see her superior still intact.

"Great, but what's that going to do for-?" Renji began to ask until an audible crack filled the skyline above them. Looking above the Lieutenant's eyes bulged at the sight of the rumbling clouds above their heads. Flaming wreckage composed of the once endless day-lit canopy began to drop over their heads, roaring mightily as smaller bits pummeled ahead of the larger chunks into the sandy landscape around them.

"THE SKY IS FALLING?!" He shouted out in comical fright.

"This is insane?! I noticed Ichigo's Reiatsu earlier but the scope of the collateral damage he's causing is now becoming ridiculous!" Uryū rambled out, his own face paling in shock, with even Nemu looking up with contract pupils.

"What an interesting phenomenon," Mayuri said calmly, his own eyes tracing over every burning piece of debris as it fell quickly towards them, "it appears that the combined released forms of that strong Arrancar and the Ryoka boy's is causing a structural collapse. Apparently this place wasn't built to withstand such intense pressure. I think I may have underestimated the extent of his strength after all."

"Fools," Szayel interrupted, causing everyone's gaze to break away from the imminent burning death towards a dark thin smile stretched across his face. "as if this will prove a challenge to clear away."

Snapping his fingers, a sudden explosion of rainbow lit Reishi erupted from the sand not but a dozen meters behind him. From it a whizzing figure rushed upwards, intercepting the first rocky projectile, easily scaling the size of a city block. Smashing into it, all pieces of it disintegrated before it danced away, ricocheting into the other descending canopy fragments hurdling down. In a matter of seconds all of the wreckage that potentially threatened them was erased, and the figure crashed down like a comet beside Szayel's left flank.

Reishi exuded from its body like vapor, clothed in a tight form fitted white garment that was conformed around the thin torso. Long sleeves ending at the shoulder wrapped around his hands, similar to the knee-high boots. A blonde mass of hair was braided into a ponytail, flourishing about the shoulders with its head bowed. When crouched, it appeared that it was a very humanoid entity unlike the many other grotesque abominations that had been revealed prior to now.

"Allow me to introduce you to my most recent and greatest creation!" Szayel boasted, swinging an arm around in a way that allowed the being to stand upwards, standing up fully to meet the height of his shoulder. When a feminine face was revealed, it would be revealed by the non-existence of mammaries or wide birthing hips that it was more of an effeminate male. A hole presided around the voice box, creating a perfect space in its neck, and revealing it lacked the ability to speak. Curiously there was no weapon on its person, indicating that it destroyed all the wreckage barehanded or by some other means.

Regardless, its body seem to project a very powerful Reiatsu, enough that the sand billowed out into waves of airborne particles. Each grain crackled, snapping into oblivion, invisible tendrils of Reishi dancing across the air before everyone's eyes. Despite its emotionless state, a very carnal sense of emotion was felt in the air, belying the dead look in his eyes.

"Project MEAT's first production, Crisol de Razas," Szayel finished with dark delight, pointing at the Captain's now intrigued visage, "his first victim will be you, Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi. Then the rest of your Shinigami allies will fall. Pray to whatever deity gives you comfort that he'll end your lives swiftly and not a slow death you all deserve!"

* * *

**A/N:** And finally finished! You don't know how much I procrastinated this story due to the low number of people with vested interest in it. Believe it or not, I wasn't eager on continuing the story despite the exciting story elements yet to come. But thanks to people reviewing and commenting on the story I finally worked up the nerve to update it and doing so with less mass of words. Please let me know in your Reviews, if you leave any, if you prefer it this way or not.

First off, we'll talk about Orihime. I really wanted to make her a believable badass in this Chapter without breaking her character in any way. I think its just bizarre for most readers to accept that she COULD be competent if you have an author who cares about her. And because I do genuinely care for Orihime, she does get to pretty much singlehandedly thwart Sverrie, Sedosa and Patros' plan of slaughtering this group of Shinigami. While it was mostly Sverrie's fault she lost her ally and made Byakuya resolve to kill her, Orihime definitely put them all in that corner, so props on that. Showing off her abilities, I almost forgot that not everyone knows she can bring back the dead so this was quite the revealing to showcase her powers in this way.

Next is Chōjirō Sasakibe. As much as I wanted this guy to live throughout the story, I had planned out his demise in advance so this was just a quick change in order of when it happens. After a brilliant use of the Reiatsu storm Ichigo and Rana created, he was able to make short work of Soto, poor bastard. Not until a very ravenous Aaroniero show up that he realizes he shouldn't have peeked and got himself eaten as a result. How will this affect the others and what does Aaroniero plan to do with the additional aspect of power he possesses? We'll just have to wait and see, now won't we?

And now the biggest tease is this fight right here. Well, not a fight but more like cool speeches and Mayuri just being a troll. I had some of you no doubt wondering what Szayel's Project MEAT was. Well now here it is, a young boy by the name of Crisol de Razas. Just what are the abilities this Arrancar possesses? What makes him so special that Szayel had to wait until now to reveal him?

FIND OUT in the next update of A Predator Among Us!


	9. Identity Crisis

Everything was proceeding as Aaroniero planned. Ichigo and Rana's combined clashing Reiatsu was enough to create a cloud of Reishi that spread across the Las Noches sky. Terrifying strength shattered the canopy, causing the false heavens to fall like burning stars hitting the sea of white sand. Under this much chaos, her presence could be hidden, even when using full strength.

She used her speed to catch the Vanguard lying in wait to ambush Lieutenant Sasakibe off guard. They barely had time to figure out where she was, being cut down and burned mostly to death by her attacks. Cero, Bala and sword swings combined with well timed punches or kicks dispatched most of them as they had no time to properly resist. Not a single one posed a threat to her and she took satisfaction in assimilating them through her signature grotesque devouring process.

Too much time resulted in her secret being found out by the very one her victims were waiting to pounce upon. Lieutenant Sasakibe. Based on previous memories she had no particular connection to the Shinigami. He was so far removed to the rest of the Gotei 13 with the exception of the Captain Commander he left little impact on her mind.

That opinion changed when she consumed his essence and acquired his powers. She was left momentarily stunned just how skilled or powerful the man truly was this entire time, nor how old he was. Secrets flowed from the recesses of the absorbed psyche allowing her access to things she had no idea or comprehension about.

A smile spread faintly across her face as she went out to absorb more targets.

Thankfully, one such was one of her own Calaveras. It was thoroughly incapacitated by the shockwave dealt by the Bala Mente that erupted between her and Angelle Cooney. Dropping beside her now inert replicant, she thrust her arm through its midsection without hesitation. A thick squelching sound later and she withdrew the body's heart, tearing it out in a visceral display that bloodied her sleeve just as the rest of her attire was stained red. Watching her arm morph into a voracious tentacle, she relished the euphoric sensation of the purified core of her creation ride up her limb and deposit deep within her body. Shortly after the body she eviscerated turned chalk white in complexion before it and its clothes turned into decomposing dust.

"_Oh yes, I can feel Grimmjow's Aspect in this one_," Aaroniero thought with a wild grin spreading across her face, her bloodied upturned hand twitching with ecstasy, "_perfect. Accumulating those Vanguards was a boon enough, but adding this really takes my peak higher. Privaron Mosqueda, Sado Yasutora, Séptima Zommari, Exequias Rudbornn, six intact vanguards, and now Sexta Jaegerjaquez. Adding them along with my own prior store of Reiryoku with Rukia Kuchiki's natural strength and I am already feeling more powerful than I could ever dream! I can't imagine how strong I could become once I absorb more, like Nnoitra and his Fracción_-"

"What. The. Fuck?!"

Aaroniero, so wrapped up in her musings, forgot to check her surroundings. She cursed the wide radius of Ichigo and Rana's Reiatsu, it was starting to cloud her even most basic use of Pesquisa. Turning to look over to the side she saw the point of the shout and retained her chilling grin that bordered on maddening joy. Narrowing her eyes her voice slurred out almost in a drunken haze, "Ahhhhhh. Angelle Cooney isn't it?"

The petite Arrancar backed away from what looked like a deranged killer. From before, it looked like she was annoying given how she was able to read her moves and knocked her unconscious using her own technique. Her body was lightly scorched across the front, cheeks, thighs and arms swollen a slight pink while her clothes were darkened. She was lucky she used her own Reiatsu to buffer herself from the Bala Mente blast, but was unlucky to have suffered so much damage regardless.

It all seemed like a moot point for she could feel the signature dwelling within this woman's mind was far different than before. In fact, she could feel many voices crying out within, seeming to harmonize with the tongue of this Shinigami that approached her. Despite what she was, Angelle couldn't mistaken this woman as an enemy but more as a monster!

"W-What the Hell are you?!" She squealed out, reaching for her sword while extending a free hand out. Six invisible arms of Reishi were projected from her mind, flowing out through the air at an incredible pace. In her field of vision, transparent hands formed fists to bludgeon her front where she stood.

Having already a hard time to sense what's ten meters away, Aaroniero felt the invisible punches make contact with her body's front. Her heels dragged across half the distance she was originally away from Angelle. Jarred from the impact, she shook her head and rubbed her body from the discomfort. It hurt, but not like it would have if she was at the level her Calavera was.

"Ow, that stung," Aaroniero mused, rolling her neck side to side, placing her hands on her hips as she rolled them to get the cricks out of them, "I didn't see that coming and I paid the price. Still, I thank you, if only to break me out of my stupor of power overload I was experiencing. I'll make sure to stifle my...excitement in the future."

"N-No way! You can't just shrug off a blow like that," Angelle gasped out loud, her drawn sword falling out of her hand into the sand next to her.

"Oh, I can, my mentally unstable friend," The voracious Arrancar said with a thin smile, now walking slowly towards her with a predatory glint in her now violet colored eyes. The slits for pupils narrowed at her newest prey with a hunger that couldn't be known even by the barbarous Yammy. Teeth slowly unraveled by parting lips, they shined menacingly as her tongue slid across her mouth, "and I'm going to enjoy devouring that lithe frame of yours. All of your memories, emotions and the power that comes with it will be mine. There isn't a single thing you can do to stop me."

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Angelle shrieked out in panic, unleashing a wave of Reiatsu infused tendrils that swam through the air towards Aaroniero. This time, her eyes shrank at the sight of her enemy transforming into a black haze, her figure dissipating and flowing down into the darkened grains of sand below. Looking to and fro, she kicked her wakizashi back up into an inverted grip, swallowing hard while cold sweat caked her skin.

A white hot stabbing pain erupted from her midsection from behind and spilled out her skinny chest. Unable to muffle out a scream as blood poured out of her mouth, staining her neck and lower face with red ichor, she could only watch in horror as the marred hand that was responsible for injuring her transformed into teeth lined tentacles. Spreading outwards one could see her shadowy silhouette shake and writhe during the process. By the time she was funneled up the arm of Aaroniero's, the latter had become even more satisfied with the results of her new found strength.

"Not even this powerful brat could stand against me," She spoke out loud to herself with a delighted grin. Examining herself, she sighed with irritation at all the blood clinging to her skin and garments. Shaking her head, she made sure not to worry about such things and focused on locating the others.

Closing her eyes, she found that Angelle's Pesquisa was far more effective than her own **Busqueda la Mente**. While it seemed to have a shorter range, she could read the surface thoughts of those with a substantial enough Reiryoku, harnessing their Reiatsu as anchor points to locate and track them. From there she could see the remains of the recently elected Espada bleeding and lying on the ground.

"_I can acquire them using my Shadow Aspect. Now, how's my last Calavera doing?_" She thought as she swept the landscape towards a fair kilometer southwest of the crater. Aaroniero had to be thankful it was far enough that they couldn't have seen the Lieutenant's demise. The need for secrecy wasn't as much a necessity but rather a thrill for her. The longer the mystery stays vague the more exciting it would be to reveal herself to her quarry while they remained unaware.

Frowning, she could tell that the infamous Warden of the Vanguard was giving them both a hard time. Shrugging she knew that their fight would end shortly. Sinking into the earth as shadow once more she ushered through the earth as nothing more than a collective mass of phosphorous Reishi. Pulling the remains of Patros, Sverrie, and Sedosa. She moved to a far enough area so she could consume them in peace and evaluate her battle strategies from there.

"_There is one last Espada I have to check on. And if I know him, he's going to be in an awfully sour mood that the canopy has crumbled. Just how angry is he, I wonder?_" Aaroniero thought with an audible chuckle, her body materializing into a solid form as she made a sprint across the desert coupled with long distance Sonido. It would only be a matter of time till the curtain was finally pulled down. When it did, she hoped everyone would be watching and see her marvelous evolution come to fruition!

* * *

**Chapter 9 **

**Identity Crisis**

* * *

**One Kilometer Southwest of La Muerte Crater**

Nelliel could hardly believe how strong Sin has become.

Upon hearing of Aizen's departure, Sin immediately released his Zanpakutō and assumed his Resurrección. No longer simply a formidable warrior who could handle both herself and the seemingly stronger Chad but assumed an indomitable form. The bone clad mask that was just a mouth of a croc had now encompassed his entire head, giving the rest of his white scaled body an eerie albino bipedal reptilian appearance. Gleaming red eyes, sharp claws mounted upon digits, his long rows of sharp teeth and spiked tail truly was a force worthy to be reckoned with.

"_**I do believe this is the first time you've seen me in my truest self, Lady Nelliel**_," Sin rasped out with a guttural growl befitting his bestial attributes. Raising up a clawed hand, his mouth cracked open an inch, letting thick fumes of Reishi escape the ridges of his teeth. Eyes gleamed with a sinister intent while his hand clenched with purposeful motion, "_**but this form of mine isn't simply strong. The Vanguard you faced in battle were part of an experiment of Szayelaporro Grantz's. A special ration comprised of tens of Menos Grande infused into the size of a pill given to them over time. Their power drastically has increased as our Octava has predicted, much to Lord Aizen's approval. The rations are simply dubbed, FEED pills, and far more purified samples have been distributed throughout the army!**_"

"_That explains the oddity in the Vanguard's Reiatsu, not to mention why Rana could withstand my attacks so easily. They reached a whole new league of strength by simply being fed these FEED pills_," Nelliel thought with a dry swallow, nervously taking a step back away from the intimidating proximity that Sin boasted of, "_I can only wonder how many of the Espada have participated in this sick experiment of Szayel's_..."

As if reading her mind, she heard Aaron-Chad scoff out loud and take a few bold steps forward to the Croc Arrancar.

"Let me guess," Aaron-Chad mused out loud, his left revealed eye squinting almost judgmentally at the Croc Arrancar, "you ate some yourself?"

"_**I wanted to see just how effective the pill was and what it could do for a more proper soldier of Lord Aizen's . It turned out, not only did I become undeniably stronger but I also consequently gained an...addiction**_," Sin murmured out, his eyes looking away with definitive shame, "_**it wasn't a matter of just becoming stronger but satisfying my basest Hollow instinct to eat. To consume. Having so much energy and taste of Menos was all I could do to keep me from becoming more mad than the inmates I kept on guard.**_"

"You sad fool," Nel finally said, her eyes now a sad glare, "I see now Nnoitra's betrayal to me was a blessing in disguise. If I was present in seeing that kind of barbaric use of our kin just for the sake of furthering our strength...I can see that part of Rana's resentment to Lord Aizen was justified. He isn't a Shinigami, a man or a Hollow. He's a monster for finding this kind of experiment to be _worthwhile_."

"_**Lady Nel-!**_"

"Stop it!" Nelliel cried out, her body now bristling with revitalized energy. The weariness of battle and exertion she put herself through destroying Nnoitra was now the furthest thing in the back of her mind. Even if this was merely her Resolve equivalent of an adrenaline rush, she was far too angry to think about it. "stop defending him like he's your savior! He didn't do anything but show you a dream that's impossible for you to coexist within his Grand Plan. I understand that better today than I had in the past. What he's planning to do is slaughter, not justified for any reason! He's a madman!"

"I second that," Aaron-Chad said with a small smile, raising his arms up in preparation for the real battle.

After Nelliel crossed her legs and assumed a straight fencing posture, accompanied by her free unarmed hand raised next to her left cheek with forefingers outstretched, she saw him react. His body convulsed and his Reiatsu began to ebb off of him in ripples of dark red steam. Rivulets of Reishi snapped off his scaled body, his hollow hole center between his abdomen and his pectorals, swirling with a chaotic light. Balling his clawed hands into his palms tight enough to draw blood from his own flesh, Sin finally snapped open his mouth and cried out in rage.

"_**NELLIEL! I WILL TEAR YOU APART FOR BLASPHEMING AIZEN'S NAME! YOUR WORDS ARE ONLY POISON TO MY EARS! NOW JOIN YOUR ALLIES IN THE CRIMSON SAND OF HUECO MUNDO! DIE!**_"

Roaring out such words the very air billowed thunderously against both fighters' frames. The two of them staggered back from the sonic vibrations the wind carried, attesting to how truly powerful Sin has become now that he had transformed. With his aura dissipated, his bipedal form charged forward like a walking snake, moving with surprising dexterity at his prey.

Nel reflexively parried an incoming clawed thrust by the bloodied hand of Sin, cracking against her sword in a shower of sparks and a plume of exploding air pressure. Her heels dug into the sand as she was sent stumbling back, only to have the process repeated by the enraged attacker with swipe after swipe sent after her. It was all she could do to maintain a defense so she wasn't eviscerated by the power of his assault.

Seeing Aaron-Chad approach out of the corner of her eye, Nelliel crouched timely underneath a clawed swipe that cleaved the air and disembowled the sand meters behind her. Catapulting herself upwards with an uppercut slash making contact with Sin, she heard the Croc Arrancar roaring with frustration as she leaped into the air. At the same time, the sound of jettisoning Reishi was heard loud enough to cause him to turn around to see Aaron-Chad cock his shield arm back in time enough for the strike.

"**El Directo!**" He shouted out, firing a plume of azure pale colored Reishi that was much larger than his prior uses of the technique.

Not hesitating for an instant, Sin swung his long snout around and opened his exterior mouth wide open. A second before Sado's attack could make impact, a much larger dark green Cero discharged from his interior maw. Spraying out like a geyser of emerald burning liquid, it briefly clashed in a crackle of light with the enemy's discharge before outright dismantling it in a bull rush to consume Aaron-Chad's body.

"_Shit!_" Aaron-Chad thought with eyes widened behind flapping bangs, his shield shaped arm held up with readied defense. What he didn't expect was the materializing form of Nelliel coming between him and the enormous volatile Cero. With the flat of her blade reinforced by her other hand, she shoved against it, her body's garments and hair billowing out wildly enough to whip out at the Calavera's skin.

"Chad," Nelliel communicated over the deafening crushing weight of Sin's Reiatsu, looking over her shoulder with a determined light in her eye, "can you use your left arm's attack for me? It's the only chance we have at winning this fight!"

"Hm, no problem," Aaron-Chad nodded simply, not wanting to emote just how relieved he was to have backup. Sin Nombre was proving to be much more dangerous than he anticipated.

Opening her mouth wide, Nelliel vacuumed the seemingly continuous Cero that was launched by Sin. Like a torrential whirlpool, the enormous beam of light swirled into her gullet, once again revealing Sin's growling form. Having seen the technique used before, his eyes narrowed at what transpired to his Cero, and walked with a far more calm stride than before.

"_**Cero Doble again, Lady Nel? That won't work! Even at full strength your Cero's attack power won't stop me**_," Sin declared confidently, taking long strides towards his two prey.

"I don't intend to use Cero Doble," Nelliel confessed, raising her blade so its edge horizontally faced him and hung just inches below her chin. "and I don't plan on my technique alone to stop you. His, on the other hand..."

Her verbal trail ended with Aaron-Chad moving with speed he hadn't displayed until Angelle's attack on the Shinigami. Blurring forth in a movement that confused Sin for Sonido, the red highlighted pale arm crackled with azure lights around the knuckles. Swinging forward, he murmured with lethal intent with a violet glow escaping his eyes, "**La Muerte!**"

In a heartbeat reaction of self preservation the Croc Arrancar crossed his arms in front of his chest for which the Calavera attacked. The severity of the force was as awesome as it was painful. A ghoulish scream escaped the shockwave that riddled his body and carved into the air, creating a silhouette of a demonic skull behind Sin's body. The instant it did so, both arms from the elbow up exploded in an ashen incineration followed by a skull branding impact into his upper torso.

With steam ebbing off his body, disarmed by the attack, Sin's bloodshot eyes turned back to the human bodied offender with pure anger. Snapping his mouth open faster than anticipated, he latched his mouth around with a bone crushing bite around the left shoulder to lower right hip over the back. Blood spewed between his teeth sooner than Aaron-Chad could yell out in pain.

The last thing he expected was the effigy of Sado to launch a right hook into his left eye, hard enough for him to stumble back at the sudden loss of sight. The ocular nerve was crushed along with part of his face, his prey now free to fall to his knees with pain. Snarling, he dedicated all of his attention to him as his arms regenerated in a bursting squirt of fluids and blood.

"_**To think I had my arms torn apart and my body receive damage from that attack. You truly are a fiend of nature for your kind, human**_," Sin commented with a distasteful spat.

"_Damn_," Aaroniero thought through his Calavera's exhausted body, "_I thought I had enough time to recover from the first La Muerte. Even adding the Calavera's power with both Tesra and Nnoitra's Reiryoku wasn't enough to kill this bastard. What the Hell is he made of?_"

"_**After I'm done with you, I will have words with-gulk!**_" Sin Nombre began to declare until he felt a white-hot pain stab through his back straight through his chest, just inches above his hollow center. The blade that dripped with his blood he could see was glowing a pure pink outlined alabaster hue, having focused the power of his Cero and her own Reiatsu into the sword.

"I'm not one prone to backstabbing, Sin," Nelliel whispered apologetically behind Sin, earning a turn of the head futilely to see her crouched form holding the sword hilt with both hands, "but this is a war I can't win by holding back, even against old friends."

"_**You've turned on Lord Aizen, the Espada, on all Hollows...for the sake of a Shinigami?!**_" He asked an outraged yet clearly confused tone, feeling himself unable to move from his given spot.

"I was betrayed once, Sin. This is just the consequence of that betrayal to me," She explained, a somber look entering her features, "I see that there was never a chance to return to Lord Aizen's side. No matter the loyalty I once had, I pledged myself to another man, much more worthy of my attention. For that, I will kill even you so that he and all that he cherishes may live."

"_**Lady Nel-!**_" Sin began to protest, feeling a sickening tug on his chest that he couldn't explain other than the pain was starting to break him apart on the inside. If only it was so. His body began to shift, tremble and convulse as a geyser of dark red light funneled into the pink blade and onto the swords woman herself. Soon his entire Resurrección shattered and his sealed form returned with his ax lying broken at his feet. A dead look entered his eyes before he finally fell to his knees and collapsed onto the sand, soon turning into a thick gout of grey colored dust.

Aaron-Chad gaped what happened and even more so at Nelliel's new appearance. Garbed in a green form-fitting coat with a similar pair of slacks that possessed fur-lined trim across the elbows, cuffs, waist and collar. Her curvaceous bosom held a framed top so it can still be observed but not as obvious as before. With her scabbard returned to her waist, she sheathed the sword and looked down at him apologetically.

"I'm sorry I let you get hurt, Chad, but it was the only way I could take him by surprise. I hope you can forgive me," She pleaded, kneeling down to offer a hand for him to take.

Hesitantly grabbing it, Aaron-Chad stared at her incredulously with one visible eye while clinging to his wounded chest and shoulder, "What did you do?"

"I used a technique similar to Cero Doble, but instead I robbed him of his Reiryoku in its entirety. It is...a technique I don't wish to use redundantly," She shuddered, holding onto her fur-silk covered body with emphasis, "it leaves a bad impression on me as a whole."

"So you stole his power and made it your own? I never pegged you as the dark type," Aaron-Chad said aghast, though held a hint of teasing that Aaroniero herself would have done in person.

"I can only imagine how strong the other Espada are, or the rest of Aizen's chosen army. I have to do whatever it takes to get stronger and help Ichigo. Even if it means doing the unthinkable," Nel rationalized, unfurling her arms from herself and instead used herself as a crutch for Aaron-Chad. Not encumbered by his weight in the slightest, she used Sonido to break the distance between them and the others. She just hoped she could forgive herself for what she did to an old friend just as she had to for Nnoitra.

* * *

**The Ruins of the Debaucherous Palace**

Mayuri was intrigued by this scenario presented before him. Before he was almost all but done with his desire to dissect his enemy and bring him back to his lab for probing. However, he revealed something both clear and unwittingly to him. This Project MEAT's first production, Crisol de Razas, was a new kind of Modified Arrancar he never encountered before. That and the place he erupted from must be a laboratory; one ripe with specimens and data for him to collect for his own uses.

The boy's appearance was peculiar too. Unlike the other modified Arrancar that served under the Espada, this one looks largely unintimidating and didn't emanate anything resembling animal behavior. If anything there was a distinct bored glaze in his eyes, as if what surrounded him was nothing to concern with. Even locking onto his gaze he could tell it was like he was in his own world bottled up within his head.

"Damn, that kid moved fast," Renji blinked a few times. He watched the Arrancar boy rip apart the falling, burning debris with nothing but punches and kicks. He could only compare his own Captain for such incredible speed but he could tell it wasn't natural. "I don't even see a Zanpakutō on him. Is he unable to transform, like those other weird Arrancars of his?"

"I wouldn't know. Kind of in a tight bind at the moment," Uryū hissed out, feeling the Lieutenant keep a painful lock on his arm while driving a knee into his back. Combined with his bodily internal damage and he was experiencing something nearly as excruciating the time he last faced Mayuri. He could only laugh inside how ironic it was to rely on his aid rather than putting an arrow between the eyes. "a little help is appreciated!"

"Do I look like I'm in any condition to push her off you?" Renji asked dryly.

Growling, Uryū squirmed a little while Nemu did little to move from her spot, "Hey! Can't you ease up a little?"

"No," Nemu replied bluntly.

"As amusing as your banter is," Szayel sighed out loud, interrupting their antics, earning their gaze while returning his attention to the Captain. Waving a hand once again over his silent creation, he beckoned the forward leaning Shinigami to respond. "I'm curious to hear what you think of my pet. Fascinating, isn't he?"

Mayuri, instead of replying, began to walk forward. The Espada's smile began to shrink when it became obvious the venomous researcher's gaze was elsewhere. Waltzing past the still Crisol, he shuffled past the both of them till he was only a handful of meters behind them. Turning his head to look over his shoulder, just as Szayel did himself, he pointed forward at a small opening in the disheveled field of sand and rubble.

"Project MEAT was it?" He prodded, eyes widened with his mouth driven to a thin look of curiosity, "he came out of that pit. Is that your laboratory?"

At the mentioning of his lab, Szayel's eyes widened and his breath hitched in this throat.

"Oh, so it is your lab," The Captain stated at seeing the fear sprout over his nemesis' face. His grin stretched ear to ear, taking a few more steps forward while gesturing to the spot he knew the boy had emerged from, "you don't mind if I take a peak inside, do you?"

"CRISOL!" Szayel called out, causing the bored look on the young appearing Arrancar disappear. A light entered his eyes and his face turned to look at his master immediately. Stretching his hand out at the laxly retreating Shinigami, he commanded openly, "KILL HIM! NOW!"

"**Yes, Master Szayellapporo**."

"Hm?" Mayuri turned around, finding it odd that the voice echoed inside of his own head. What startled him the most was the sudden evaporation of the lithe entity and the reappearance just shy of his own face. Reflexively he used Shunpo to jettison himself backwards, narrowly avoiding a snap kick, rupturing the sand beneath him. Stopping himself he raised his sword above his head at the sudden shimmering foot ax kicking towards his crown.

The rosy hued aura of his own Reiatsu strengthened the resistance to the brute force crashing against his sealed Zanpakutō. Sparks flew and groans of metal stretched between the two opposing forces. In contrast the Arrancar seemed to push his boot's heel harder against his target's weapon. His own bright blue Reiatsu gently lapped against his skin as it rose up to combat the Captain's strength.

"I have no time to deal with you, pest," Mayuri grunted out loud, finding himself exerting more strength than he desired. Outstretching his sword wielding hand's forefinger, a brief synapse of light coursed around the digit. Before anyone could guess what was about to happen, a golden beam of Reishi cracked against Crisol's face. His head snapped back, his body spasmed backwards as his visage trailed smoke.

"**Ouch**."

Once again, the gentle toned voice murmured in his mind, almost in a mocking way. To elaborate, Crisol landed dexterously on both hands, springing himself back towards the Captain in a flying double kick. Planting himself in his solar plexus, the Shinigami was sent flying across the air, tumbling head over heels before crashing into a particularly large piece of canopy debris.

Landing on all fours with the grace of a cat, Crisol's bright blue eyes stared cautiously at where his target was sent crashing. It wasn't until seconds later a series of sporadically fired Reishi beams lanced through the air towards him. Deftly dodging each one with musical footwork, barely rising off the air to avoid the attacks sent his way.

"You're not quick enough," Mayuri hissed from behind Crisol as he stepped slightly to the right, right into the looming shadow of the venomous opponent. Swinging his sword down to bifurcate her from the head down he growled at the instinctive palming he did with both hands. That was, until the false sneer turned into a smile of delight, "**Tsuzuri Raiden**."

Crisol's eyes widened with his body's literal shock he was undergoing. The electrocution was enough to cause his whole body to go numb at the unexpected attack. After the shocks were halted, the Mod Arrancar was shot point blank by a much larger Reishi beam from Mayuri's left hand. Scalding his back his lithe body was sent careening across the desert ground before lying face down on the pale grains a dozen meters from the assembled group.

"He's certainly more durable than I gave him credit for," the 12th Division Captain murmured musingly, raising his left arm up for inspection. Exposed seams crossing the artificial limb was seen, venting steam from the overheating it prevented the device upon. He only added the concealed **RBP**, aka Reishi Beam Projector, as a last second thought when adding fine tuning to upgrades to his own body and Nemu's for the upcoming battle. However..."I shot him with maximum destructive capability and he only received superficial damage. He certainly boasts quite a great amount of strength for something so small."

Upon finished speaking to himself, Crisol's pile of rubble began to vibrate. Raising his gaze up inquisitively he could see cyan rays of light bleeding through the cracks as it vibrated. The Reiatsu that had been displayed before was now inclining at a rapid rate, enough for him to take his new found enemy seriously.

"It'd be wise not to take him so lightly, Captain!" Szayel called out, taking comfort that no one bothered to even pose a threat towards his person. With Crisol out, no one could let their guard down around him. Especially while he still breathed. "he's far more capable than you may peg him for."

"So noisy," Mayuri sighed out, turning around to keep his back to the now erupting beam of Reishi blasting away the boy's prison of sand and rock. Twisting his sword around, he sheathed it into the scabbard held in front of himself. Reaching Nemu and the other two's proximity, he looked down at them thoughtfully before turning his stare to his Lieutenant, "Nemu, I need you to buy me some time. The means to defeat this particular foe requires a bit more meticulous work."

"As you wish, Master Mayuri," Nemu calmly replied, releasing Uryū thankfully from his painful grapple, allowing him to gasp in relief while she strode past her Captain.

Grasping her shoulder, he pulled her closer to his head, enough that he could whisper something unintelligible. Unseen by the two ground prone heroes, the surrogate daughter of his had her pupil's contract and her mouth part slightly. When she released her shoulder, her posture returned to normal rigidness and strode toward the now upright Crisol purposefully.

"**My directive is to kill the Captain Shinigami. Stand aside.**"

Nemu heard the voice warn her, but didn't register it outwardly. When it looked like her slow approach had now sign of yielding, Crisol swiftly sped towards her. Thrusting an arm in the movement of a sword he found himself staring a pair of hands grasp his outstretched forearm. Raising his gaze he saw the Lieutenant's body arc up and over his leaning form, whipping a pair of heels planting firmly into the back of his blonde scalp.

His mouth opened to release a silent cry of pain in the same instance as she kept her grip on his arm. Off balance he was easily thrown head over heel across the air. Not even making six meters of distance, Nemu crouched and kicked off the sand, reappearing right towards his intended area of impact to plant a palm thrust into his spiraling back.

"What the Hell?!" Renji exclaimed, ignoring the fact the Captain was kneeling next to the Quincy.

"What are you doing? More importantly, what did you say to her?!" Uryū asked in a bout of understandable panic, seeing the Head of Research and Development pull out a green vial attached to a syringe. Squeezing out a stream of the lime colored juice, the Captain looked aggravated by the questions. Regardless he turned to briefly gaze at the shockwave of force that sent Crisol bouncing across the sand.

"I programmed Nemu to receive a number of vocal orders to adjust her level of strength. She's currently using fifty percent of her full potential. I normally keep her at a ten percent margin. You can see how serious I'm taking this _thing _our enemy has created," Mayuri explained the the second half so casually. Without Uryū in any real position to move away he roughly stabbed the needle into his neck, pouring the serum of bizarrely tinted concoction into his veins. "what I'm doing to you is improving your body. This is an advanced form of my past regeneration vial. It will erase harmful viruses, create super antibodies to combat illness, heal internal and external injuries. Even painkiller is established for someone who clearly can't stomach that sort of thing."

"So...you're helping me while making me your guinea pig?" Uryū coughed out, wincing as the needle was extracted from his neck.

"I don't do anything for free, boy," Mayuri remarked with a shrill giggle, his gold plated grin sickening the Ishida heir to the core.

But that feeling would subside with the warmth flooding his limbs. A series of sharp pangs stabbed and twisted within his insides, forcing his throat to vomit up bile and blood in the excruciating process of organ breakdown so they can be replaced with fresh ones. Throughout the process the Captain turned to look at the Lieutenant, who took turns staring at the horrifying regenerative scene, and the man's artificial creation kick the Mod Arrancar like a beach ball.

"You Lieutenant," Mayuri cooed out, withdrawing three particular shots each filled with bright colored vials, squeezing them within each of his chalk colored digits while capturing the look of horror in the Abarai's face, "had some bold choice of words to share with me. Thankfully for you, I am a generous man myself. I have three particular serums I'd love to demonstrate for you. Care to have them one at a time or all three?"

"Shit..." Renji murmured, soon finding himself more preoccupied with Mayuri's looming sinister shadow than seeing Crisol turn on his attacker.

"**That hurts!**"

Crisol shouted in Nemu's unresponsive mind, twisting around in the air to a sudden lurching stop. With nothing but an exertion of pure Reiatsu, a spherical blast of azure light struck the charging Lieutenant's body like a speeding car. Unlike a pedestrian, she seemed to take the blunt trauma in stride, bouncing thrice before landing like a cat onto her feet. Watching Crisol hang in the air, sporting a few scuffs to small bruises, the Arrancar didn't even bother to wipe the blood oozing out of his lower left lip.

Instead he dropped to the ground on his left foot with his right knee upturned, slapping his forearms in an X in front of his face. The azure light soon transformed into a cyan blaze, cycling around him like a vortex. When a tornado howled forth, the sandy rubble littered battlefield soon became a hazard just by standing in its proximity. This wind continued to whip across the viewers, with the only exception of Szayel who took a precaution in vibrating his own Reiatsu enough to create a bubble of protective energy in a pinkish hue.

"_That's it, my creation. Show them the culmination of all my work. Reveal your nature to their very eyes!_" Szayel thought with a depraved smile spread across his face, waving arms to either side as if to make a mock embracing posture to the twister itself.

"**Whirl, Giralda!**"

Crisol's voice echoed within the minds of all who were present, just as it dissipated to reveal his new appearance. His upturned leg, still in the same stance as it was moments ago, was now outfitted with a beige toned bone greave, one for each leg. This was wrapped up his lithe thighs to create a kind of leg armor similar to a pair of talon pauldrons fixed on each of his shoulders. Lastly a hawk shaped crest was affixed to his forehead, visually solidifying his adaption to the Resurrección he was now employing.

"_Is that his Released State?_" Uryū inquired silently, his eyes widened upon finally surviving the drug's healing powers. Pushing himself up to his feet, he raised a hand to block some of the flying sand landing inside of his nostrils or mouth. What he saw was an incredible pair of twisters, now siphoning out of the boy's boots, creating bird headed tornadoes that moved at his whim.

"_That's odd, he should have used a Zanpakutō but I never saw him with one when he arrived. He just entered a stance and assumed this new form. What kind of Arrancar did Szayel make_?" Uryū thought with apprehension, feeling the waves of Reiatsu mingle with the wind.

Forgoing caution he flung his left arm out and renewed his Ginrei Kojaku. Watching his bow glow brightly, he noticed that he had much more ample Reishi to work with than before. Turning his gaze to Nemu's cat-like crouching just beneath the first of the avian twisters rushing down to crush her. Dexterously vaulting over the more solid base of its head she spun around the second that charged her way, clapping her hands together in preparation.

Taking only a second's glance to see Crisol twirl on his feet and adjust his footing, he knew what was better to target.

"**Sprinkled on the bones of the beast!**" Nemu murmured, backflipping away from another twister swipe an avian headed cyclone made.

"**Sharp tower, red crystal, steel ring. Move and become the wind, stop and become the calm**," She hissed while somersaulting forward to avoid another swift jab by the shrieking column of rotating air currents. Diving head first to meet her ground prone adversary, she finished the incantation, her clasped hands on the verge of emitting a crackling golden light, "**the sound of warring spears fills the empty castle!**"

In a surprise move, Crisol seemed to teleport, leaving behind a solid afterimage of himself for Nemu to stare on while fazing into form behind. Before he could plant a surprise attack, his attention was diverted by a pair of Reishi arrows zooming from his periphery vision. Turning around to be more upright in the air, he easily dispersed the projectile through a Bala gestured from a flick of his wrist.

Unfortunately it was all the time Nemu needed to twist around, having her back crash into the sand, giving her the reinforcement she needed to fire the Kidō of choice.

"**Hadō #63, Raikōhō!**" Nemu declared valorously, discharging a wide arc of lightning, splitting the sand beneath her with such projected power. In a surprise twist, she saw the twisters cross just mere moments before the lightning's tip. They rapidly disintegrated but bought Crisol time to propel himself by shooting Reishi air waves from his greaves, giving himself a sonic impression in the sky as he swerved around at high speeds.

Flipping back onto her feet, Nemu felt her left jaw explode in pain in a shrieking pass as Crisol zoomed past her, not even bothering to watch her twirling body spin in midair. Catching herself on the sand, she was caught by the throat and carried high up into the night sky. Because of the inclining velocity and the fierceness of his grip, Nemu couldn't free herself from him as they ascended.

"If she gets hit from that high up, she could be in real danger," Uryū muttered to himself, all but blocking out Renji's tortured wails by Mayuri's hand. The real threat was this boy's power and he didn't want his benefactor to meet an untimely end.

"**You're strong, but its time for you to die**."

Crisol declared in Nemu's mind, halting his ascension just enough to let go of her neck. Not given enough time for retaliation he launched an over the shoulder kick to her face, sending her hurdling to the ground below. Even pinwheeling he readjusted himself above, forming a pentagon with his index and pinky fingers to charge a red colored Cero. The warbling prime of its charge could be heard even as she struggled to regain control of her fall.

In a loud shriek of the Cero's launch, it rumbled downward at a thought defying momentum, aiming to catch up to her within seconds.

"**Gottesschild!**" Uryū called out during a quad formation of light joining at the point of the Cero. Instead of exploding the energy column seemed to widen exponentially, manifesting into a pentacle shaped shield of blue light just above Nemu's retreating heels. Caught ten meters underneath the massive Quincy spell, Nemu shook her head as her body was cradled bridal style by the man in white.

"Ishida?" Nemu asked, her vision clearing up from the kick that marked an instant bruise on her left cheek.

"That was a nasty kick you took," Uryū replied nonchalantly, daring to crack a joke amidst the battle they were having, "but that fall looked worse so I intervened. I hope I didn't break your doll-like pose. I'm sure your Captain would have hated that."

"I don't mind," She responded mutely, smiling slightly at the momentary warmth. She had never been held before in her life. It felt nice; but duty overcame personal comfort. That in mind she pushed herself off Uryū and landed atop the Reishi platform he currently kept himself afloat with. Looking upwards, she could feel the Reiatsu shift in nature beyond the shield, even as they neared it, "he's transforming again."

"What? His Sword Release has multiple forms?" Uryū asked out loud, thankful he had someone who may understand better than he did. For all of his encounters prior to Szayel he still had limited knowledge of Arrancars.

"**Rip Off, Golondrina!**" Crisol declared in his telepathic projection to his enemies.

"No," Nemu responded firmly, just as the Reiatsu nature shift ended and their enemy finished. The sound of whirring blades could be heard between them and the shield. Through a bout of instinctive self preservation, Uryū rocketed his platform horizontally away from the shield. Just in time for him to witness the shield torn to shreds by crescent shaped saws, she finished her response, "he has multiple Resurrección. That's Crisol de Razas' special ability."

He couldn't find the nerve or time to shout how ridiculous that was. Seeing Crisol's form lower downward in a drastically different visage changed his mind. The blades that spun around in the air, cleaving through his shield like sheet paper, returned to white bone holsters that formed the frame of the wings segmented to Crisol's back. His overall body shape remained the same, but bore a pair of discus golden pauldrons that kept the wings attached to himself. A feather headdress adorned his head, flowing down the length of his back while the same material was knitted into his sleeves and slacks, giving the impression he transformed into a bird of prey.

Oddly enough, the name of the released state and the appearance was so similar it clearly was an imitation Uryū wish he forgotten.

"That's Cirucci's Resurrección! How can he have her Zanpakutō's true form?!" Uryū asked indignantly, turning to look down at Szayel whom was closer than he would have liked. Watching him laugh out loud, he knew the morbidity of the situation was much more sickening than he cared to have known.

"Now you see, Quincy? Crisol de Razas is a Modified Arrancar, created using the Reiryoku and flesh of dead Shinigamified Hollows who were all at one point Espada material. I salvaged as much I could, stewed it within my lab and waited for it to bake. Behold! The perfect weapon, obedient to my every whim and incapable of speaking back other than through a psychic projection to those within its Reiatsu radius," Szayel boasted, turning around to continue his prideful speech at Mayuri's kneeling person, "see that, Captain?! Your Lieutenant isn't special! My creation is better than yours and you can't stand it, can y-"

Unable to keep up his speech when a fist wedged powerfully into his face, he heard his nose breaking and teeth loosening shortly before an explosion of pain was felt in his skull. His eyes rolled to the back of his head during the flight his body was sent, pinwheeling through the air until his back smashed into a particularly large palace wall remains. Smashing it to bits, his body slumped down, groaning into unconsciousness as the unseen left arm of Mayuri's returned via cable extensions pulled it back to his stump, clicking back into place with a few audible snaps.

"Finally shut him up," Mayuri mumbled to himself with a little more satisfaction. Raising up his spare arm, he sighed happily in finishing up his administration of the last dose of drug into the Lieutenant's system, "now I can watch the progress of my miracle drugs effects come to pass in peace."

"Twisted...bastard," Renji growled, feeling himself finally recollect himself from the spasms of pain and convulsions of nausea pass over him. The fire in his veins lessened but still remained. It felt like all of the Reishi was ignited in his blood but kept at a level from bursting outward. Looking up, unseen to himself, his eyes glowed a bright blue while his mouth tasted like rubber, "what did you do to me?"

"I gave you improvements, Lieutenant. Be grateful it's not costing you anything other than an implantation of probes to monitor your anatomical status. I don't want to be unaware if your body suddenly suffers critical failure, or an untimely end, after all," He cheekily grinned, pleased with his sadistic verbal jabs that made the 6th Division Shinigami glare even more intently at him.

Around them, the wings of Crisol's new form came tumbling down, blades embedding into the sand. The saws stopped vibrating, blue sparks crackling across the frames from which they were severed. Above the Captain and Officer's heads the one responsible was bearing his Seele Schneider in hand.

"**Hadō #33, Sōkatsui!**" Nemu chanted out loud, kicking off the platform to discharge a wafting blaze of fiery Reishi into Crisol's body. With only his arms to fend off the infernal wave of Kidō, the Mod Arrancar grit his teeth as numerous arrows spiraled through the energy gout, pummeling his body repeatedly to break his Hierro. Unleashing a Cero in retaliation, a bright explosion of light separated the three to give him enough time to somersault higher up and whirl in a spherical blast of Reiatsu.

"He's transforming again!" Uryū snarled, pulling back his bowstring to fire a few arrows at the transmuting shape tailored to its new Resurrección. Much to his chagrin the arrows seem to fizzle out of view, a bright aura of crackling light coursed within the night skyline.

When he emerged, he definitely could see a more drastic change to his body's overall anatomy transpired. His lower legs had merged, forming what looked like a smooth skinned tail that extended for a distance of three meters in length. A vertical fin stretched from the edge of his tail all the way up his back to form a finned crest atop his blond unkempt mane. Slit shaped blue eyes stared coolly back at Uryū and Nemu, as webbed hands extended outward, with a glossy complexion stretching across his now bare chest and slim frame. This was the true form of Odios Choque's, the 1st Generation Cuatro Espada, Zanpakutō.

"**Jolt, Relámpago Anguila!**"

Nemu looked on in visible awe with Uryū, both never seeing an Arrancar with the power of electricity at their beck and call. This reverie was broken the moment Crisol's sinuous body gracefully appeared in a heartbeat with hands outstretched. The pair narrowly responded with Hirenkyaku and Shunpo to backpedal away from the attacker. The thrust of hands turned into a swipe of limbs, showering the air with shocking Reishi that arced towards them at various angles.

Uryū responded by firing a number of arrows simultaneously, counteracting the forked tongues of energy by causing them to latch out instinctively. Looking over he was surprised the arcs that narrowly missed him sizzled upon striking Nemu. Subtly he saw a small radiant glow of transparent indigo Reiatsu flow off her body, seeming to push all contact of force around her including the lightning.

Leaping forward, she lunged and surprised Crisol with a flying kick into his abdomen. Gaping out momentary in silent pain, the boy sneered with a dexterous whip of his tail, striking her with a vibrant crash against her repulsory side. Ricocheting the two back, Nemu rushed in to land a palm thrust to an extended forearm raise before being sent hurdling back by a vibrantly lit Bala that sent her spiraling backwards.

Uryū used that bought time to reignite his Seele Schneider, using Hirenkyaku to approach the Mod Arrancar's rear flank. Sensing his movement with his advanced Pesquisa, the Shinigamified Hollow swept his left arm in a knife swipe towards the Ishida's downward thrust. Only when he witnessed his very arm being severed by the real cutting edge did he see it was a feigned gesture by the Quincy. Wasting no time to eye the azure sparking stump, Uryū flipped the handle to an inverted grip, diagonally uppercutting Crisol across his chest in a dazzling stroke of sparking blood and burnt tissue.

Stumbling back through the air, he nimbly avoided a few more sword strikes from Uryū, his lips trembling with visible agony.

"**It hurts...**"

"It's supposed to," Uryū called back to the voice projected in his head, swinging thrice more for which he skillfully danced around, "do more," finishing with a left palm toss, sending a Gintō directly into the sparking field of Reiatsu in front of his body, "than that!"

Watching his own wound ebb a tendril of foreign Reishi to tap onto the tube, Crisol barely had time to comprehend the volatile explosion of bright blue Reishi that consumed him. His form was sent away from the cobalt silhouette that Uryū attained from the cylindrical localized Wolke he caused. Flipping head over fin the Mod Arrancar's body was badly burnt, his mouth hanging open and tears flowing endlessly out of his eyes. Creaking them open they opened painfully wide with his mouth on feeling Nemu's gravity aided ax kick.

A daunting crash of force happened two dozen meters away from the finally recomposed Renji and the amused Captain Kurotsuchi. Deep was the crater that buried the pain-induced experiment of Szayel's. But besides all of the damage done to his body it didn't feel like his power had dropped by any margin. Such was an obvious notice as an orange eruption of Reiatsu flowed upward like a pillar of fire and anger, as their enemy transformed again.

"**Ascend, Rey Dragón!**"

Crisol declared in a brazen tone within all of their minds as he rose upward, spiraling upward in a glistening coat of black and white. Much to his enemies' frustration, he looked to be completely recovered from the damage inflicted by Nemu and Uryū's combined efforts. Only when he turned to see them, they looked legitimately frightened by this particular form.

Wings outstretched to either flank, the black veined and bordered body full of white scales showed a much more muscular physique. Horns rose up at an angle that arched up and protruded up from a crown mask that covered his upper visage; this allowed his eyes to glow outward in a blank cerulean hue. Talons were affixed to where his fingers and toes were once seen, his body bristled with incredible strength and resilience. This terrifying form was the Resurrección of the first generation Espada Diez, Santo La Futuro.

"**I am fed up with being prodded. Being cut up. Broken. Hurt. Want me to show you how that feels?**"

Uryū shuddered at hearing the pathetic, boyish tone inflected in the very serious voice quaking in his conscious. Nemu seemed to understand the necessity of self preservation, distancing herself away from Uryū and even moreso from Crisol. When she felt her back hit the hard as iron chest of the Arrancar's, did she visible project cold sweat. His looming figure stood stalwartly, peering down at her with mild interest as she slowly turned her head around to look at him.

"_He's so fast! I didn't even feel his Reiatsu when he moved_," The Quincy thought with an audible swallow, his fingers twitching at the unnerving sight.

"**You're scared. I was scared of being born. Emerging from fire and darkness**."

Nemu wordlessly retaliated with a spinning kick, breathlessly left to hit nothing but a mirage her slow senses picked up. Her hair was yanked back by a materializing talon, causing her to shriek out in uncharacteristic outcry. A knee drove into her back, causing the breath to be torn out of her. Whipped around her gut was punched hard enough for bile and blood to escape her facial orifices, feeling herself completely outclassed.

"HEY!" Uryū cried out, halting Crisol's beating of Nemu, holding her aloft by her scalp while turning to look at him from over the shoulder. Having been angered enough to shake off his trepidation of the newly formed Mod Arrancar, he raised his _Ginrei Kojaku_ and gathered an immense amount of Reishi from the atmosphere around him. Even the sand below swirled upward, turning into azure colored sparks of Reishi that dismantled at his beck and call. The bow that was once his size expanded to twice and then three times his own width and height. "let her go, or I'll put an arrow into you that'll make the one I shot at the bastard below us look like a kid's toy!"

Crisol, unnervingly, possessed now physical reaction to Uryū's threat. Choosing to raise up Nemu's woozy form up, he didn't care to even fully face the Quincy. For as much as he saw, he was beneath him now.

"NOW!" Uryū bellowed out once more, pulling back the drawstring to his cheek, feeling his construct tremble with bolts of unstable Reishi dancing in the air.

"**Do you want to die first?**"

"No, how about you?!"

Crisol's quiet inquiry was overshadowed by the loud shout from below. Blinking a few times to register the new challenger, he peeked below, seeing a rapidly zooming neck of beige tinted bone with spikes adjoined with it. Turning to his right, he was taken for a ride by a large red maned snake skull by the maw, releasing Nemu immediately.

Powering down his bow, Uryū didn't hesitate to jettison his platform across the sky, soaring off to catch Nemu. To his surprise, he stopped just short of her as she righted herself and held a hand out telling him to stop. When he blinked in surprise, he saw her right herself up and smile grimly at him.

"Master Mayuri wasn't the only one who underwent the faux body transplantation," Nemu explained right away, wiping the excreted fluids from her mouth, only lightly staining her lower chin and jaw, "any damage inflicted on me is superficial. Unless I am dismembered I can still fight."

"That's reassuring...I guess," Uryū sighed with partial relief mingled with a shudder at the morbid thought of her being dissected up by the deranged Shinigami scientist. Turning around, he viewed the bewildered Crisol being dragged across the desert floor that was once the palace they were trapped in. Rocks, sand and rubble were kicked up or smashed while being plowed through by the Lieutenant, "Lieutenant Abarai's Reiatsu has spiked. I thought I was feeling Ichigo's presence for a moment when I heard that maniac shout."

Looking down, Nemu could see even from the altitude they hovered, Renji's glowing eyes and bulging veins. His Bankai having once been submerged in the dust after he was brutally assaulted by Szayel had arose once more, fueled by his vigor and endurance to the vile affects the drugs had on him. Seeing even the empowered Crisol taken off guard was a testament to Mayuri's mad ambitions and Renji's resolve.

"He's undergoing three serums at once. It's good he isn't dead yet," Nemu whispered quietly.

"What?! You mean he wasn't simply healed like me?" Uryū asked flabbergasted, anger tinting his voice and the glare aimed down at the madly grinning Captain. He looked to be ignoring the entire endeavor, examining his own sword, as if he was in another world. Could he even tell Renji was fighting a dangerous enemy at the moment?

"In order, he had the same kind of Regeneration Serum he gave you, monitored by special bacteria implanted into you during your last...encounter," She answered, watching Crisol finally break free in a burst of violent Reishi, flying upwards to fire a number Bala at the segments of Renji's large Bankai. During the explosions that cast orange overcasts in the sky, blasting away the sand, she continued debriefing Uryū, "the next is the **Resolution Potion**. It is powered by the Resolve a Shinigami can muster up in a bleak or intense situation, focused like an Adrenaline shot for humans and intensifying their Reiatsu. The last is the **Amplifier Syrup**, a stirring agent that strengthens the Reiryoku of the Shinigami three fold."

Her explanation relatively finished, they were able to see the bone segments that were broken apart rise up, visibly tangled in crimson currents of Renji's own Reiatsu. Spiraling around they zoomed to and fro, dancing across the air like guiding cannon balls, crashing into Crisol repeatedly when they weren't battered aside using his monstrous strength. Arcs of lightning sprouted from the mere connection of the independent body parts.

"If he wasn't using the Regeneration Serum, there's a high probability he could die afterwards," Nemu murmured as an afterthought, causing Uryū's palms to grip tightly. With bow in hand, he zoomed off with platform underfoot, Nemu following him after kicking across the air. Getting closer, she added curiously, "for someone who is a Quincy you value the Lieutenant and myself's safety quite highly. Unorthodox for someone of your kind."

"It's not like I'm infatuated with you!" Uryū answered hastily, his cheeks slightly flustered as he tried to look indignant at her statement.

"I didn't suggest that," Nemu dryly retorted.

"Then, its not like I'm against aiding allies against a common enemy! I still hate Shinigami! Period!" Uryū enunciated with a verbal spat, turning his head away, making sure to pull the bowstring back while taking aim at their nemesis.

"I don't care," She sang out.

"THEN WHY BRING IT UP?!" Uryū asked with an offended expression on his face, still holding back the bowstring even as she glided up a little too close to his face.

"To see if you really cared about me more than Master Mayuri did. I found it baffling a human, a Quincy, kept keeping my well being above his own. I wanted to confirm it. That's all," She finished with an emotionless visage as she made a turnabout to their enemy whom eyeballed their approaching figures.

"Tch, you're insufferable," Uryū finished with an almost wry grin that betrayed his liking to the girl's charm, "but maybe that's what makes you better than your father."

"Hm," She hummed, cupping both hands at her right hip, gathering a large amount of Reiatsu into both of her palms.

Amidst the attacks Crisol had to parry off, he found himself attacked from below, above, and around him on all sides by this new antagonist. Seeing the Quincy and the Shinigami girl return to fight caused his eyes to narrow behind the eye slits. Despite the serious physiological advantage his new state benefited him, the Lieutenant below boasted enough power to challenge him outright. Having the two of them clash in addition could be problematic. Even then, he had kept periodic watch on the Captain he was ordered to kill and saw he made no sign of entering the conflict.

"**You're delaying my order too long. It's time I finish you all off at once. Enemies of Master Szayelapporro shall die at my hands!**"

"Think again!" Renji roared out, reattaching his Bankai back to its full length, yanking his hilt back to coil it directly underneath Crisol. The ligaments, one at a time, began to funnel a large eruption of Reishi through its segments. His finishing move was going to fire at any moment, and he could only hope Uryū and his fellow Lieutenant got the hint. "Uryū! Let's hit this guy together!"

"You got it!" Uryū primed his bow fully, deciding a widespread attack was more beneficial to hit him within the horizon.

Nemu, on the other hand, seemed to lie directly next to him. The massive amount of Reishi that swirled around her palms billowed her braided ponytail, ruffling her Shikhakush**ō** while her eyes dimly burned a bright purple. Combined they made a bright aurora that challenged the moonlight high above their head, creating a new kind of Sun for Crisol stare agape at.

"**Hikotsu Taihō****!**"

Just as Renji roared out, the Arrancar child looked below his feet, seeing a voluminous blast of crimson race towards.

"**Licht Regen!**"

Folding his arms around himself, he could see the hail of Heilig Pfeil coming towards him.

"**Hadō #73. Sōren Sōkatsui!**"

Finally, he saw the burning second eye of cerulean energy transported above him, crashing down against him just as the two other attacks. Folding his wings around himself, he created a cocoon of Reiatsu to buffet the damage. It appeared massive to the beholders, bursts of blue, red and white elliptically detonated across the air. So much pressure was in the explosion that Uryū, Renji and Nemu had to back away, shielding themselves as much as they could from their own combined efforts.

But within the haze of Reishi constructed mist, something writhed and convulsed within its center. Before either three could perceive it, the movement of three white sinuous limbs stretched out and wrapped around each attacker. The constriction of each iron thick protuberance was enough that each felt no amount of budging could loosen them.

"Dammit!" Renji snarled, feeling the effects of the latter two serums finally fade from his system, rendering him exhausted within the grip of his enemy.

"Ngh!" Nemu grunted, her shoulders squirming as her chest felt to be bulging uncomfortably upward within the small space her uniform had.

"It can't be this quick!" Uryū gasped out, feeling the force behind the grip to be almost unfathomable in its strength. Staring at the five remaining limbs dancing in the air around the newly transformed Crisol, his eyes widened at the drastic change in appearance, "he could change Resurreccións that quickly this whole time?!"

"**Strangle, Trepadora**."

Crisol announced calmly, his uniform now mimicking the late Luppi Antenor, the temporary fill-in for the unknowingly deceased Grimmjow. Long sleeves draped over his hands to the point of concealing them. A circlet of bone wrapped around his blonde hair, now reformed into a braided ponytail. His blue eyes stoically stared at Uryū in particular, his breaths coming out even from his X-shaped breastplate that connected the eight additional octopi arms along his back.

"**I have you all right where I want you. Now I can make you feel the same pain I had. When I am satisfied, I can crush you and then do the same to the Captain.**"

As he applied more pressure to his victims, something happened to them other than unadulterated agony. Spirals of lime colored light escaped Renji's mouth, rocketing upwards to wrap around Crisol's startled body, becoming a brilliantly glowing python. Jettisoning from Uryū's neck was fiery chains full of barbs, thrusting into each of the of Crisol's additional arms, holding them tightly. From Nemu's shoulder flowed out a ice formed hands, grabbing and numbing the Arrancar boy's final four humanoid limbs.

"What-"

"-the Hell?!" Uryū started and Renji finished, gaping in pain at the sudden discharge of Kidō coming from their own bodies, binding and trapping the formidable Arrancar.

"On the contrary, Arrancar boy. _I _have _you _where _I _want _you_," Mayuri spoke, now behind Crisol's body, causing his now very paralyzed form to bead sweat. Turning his head around, he saw as much as he felt a painful sword impale him shallowly through his back. Due to his current level of strength, it was all the Captain could manage with his now active Shikai, but it was all needed. He could feel himself unable to even squirm within his bindings as the bleeding wound infected him with a paralyzing agent and something else more sinister.

"Ever wonder about what makes us intelligent, even if we lose memory of past events or experiences?" He asked rhetorically raising up Ashisogi Jizō as he talked further, "I say, its the memory that we beings of sentience can retain even if forgotten in the forefront of our minds. Memories can be what makes and breaks a soldier, if you understand. That's why I created a concoction that erases every trace of that experience from your body's consciousness."

Raising up a now visible emerald vial the shape a teardrop, he jiggled it, sloshing contents within to show that it had been recently used. To Crisol's point of view, he felt like he saw something but then forgot it. What was he saying again? Why was he in pain? Wait, is he in pain?

As questions of his own current and past state of being were dredged up in his confused eyes, Mayuri smiled, and put away the potion within his coat, "You might ask yourself what the importance would be if you lose a memory of something? Then, you have to remember how you walk. Communicate with another individual. Breathe. Eat. All of these motions can be forgotten potentially at an alarming rate. Luckily for you this is a temporary side affect as this drug never was perfected. But at the very least...you will forget the reason why you even emerged from that pit."

Crisol's mouth opened agape, his consciousness leaving him as all of his power shrank and hid within his body. The form vanished in a plume of light as did his restraints. As his targets looked on dumbfounded at the Captain's victory all couldn't help but feel a bit of pity at the childish appearing nemesis falling. When his lithe form hit the ground, he asked a simple yet scared question that echoed all of their minds.

"**What...am...I?**"

* * *

**AN: **WHOO! This took awhile to chug out. I don't mean for these Chapters to take long but, let's face it, when it doesn't get as much feedback as my other stories you normally just chalk it up to lack of popularity and the drive to keep writing diminishes. As of late, some of the BLEACH updates have gotten me reinvigorated for what is to come in this series and I hope to share it with you in the following Chapters.

Before I go over some things, a big round of thanks to my good friend Lastation. Without him I wouldn't have fixed the errors plaguing the final draft. Thankfully for that, it's in pristine condition for your entertainment. Again, many thanks!

Things to cover?

How about Aaroniero. She's starting to feel the effects of power craze, something that she's trying to keep under wraps. The methodical, calculated mind of Aaroniero has been tainted by the luxurious amount of power that's swimming his mind and body. Even as he dispatches more of the Vanguard, the devouring of the Lieutenant may have consequences. As what they are, we shall see whom they affect the most. More importantly, who is she going to face next? We shall find out in the next Chapter!

Sin's passing, I wanted, to be in a way that honors his existence. Out of all the Arrancars, I liked him the most simply because he's a sad case of pure loyalty. Unlike Rudbornn, whom valued Aizen's direction so much he ignored any of the wrongdoings he's committed. But with his power stolen and imbued into Nelliel, what will this do to Aaroniero's plans?

As I keep bringing up more questions, the last bout was my most favorite one. Crisol de Razas is the Modified Arrancar brewed and born from a bubbling mass of molten genetic stew. Only knowing his link to those that make up his physical and spiritual powers (to which two of their Resurrecion I owe to a Reviewer for helping me conceive so he/she may view it in-story to some capacity). While I do wish he had some Captains to face, his infantile state of mind and lack of experience made it easier for our heroes to face him in combat. Of course Mayuri steals the win, clever bastard, using what I'd like to call, "**Bakud****ō #78, ****Sanjū**** Mahirō**," so you guys know what the spell is called.

Anyways, that's all I got. Next time we'll finally get to see Ichigo's fight with Rana resolved and maybe even clue in what Aaroniero's next confrontation is. Will our heroes pull out of this or are they just escaping the frying pan and into the inferno? Find out, on the next update of _A Predator Among Us_!


	10. The Shattered Moon

"_It's difficult not to feel elated when a plan starts to come together_," Aaroniero was rushing across the dunes of Hueco Mundo, feeling an irresistible sense of satisfaction. Extending her senses as far outward as she could, the Shinigamified Arrancar could feel the chaos ensuing far away from her on the battlefield where her Calaveras did battle alongside Ichigo and his comrades.

"_Hueco Mundo is being covered in such a thick reiatsu from the ensuing chaos...it's almost too easy to move through unnoticed._" She noted, analyzing the situation. "_And yet, as strong as that cloud is..._he_ might have woken up from it before I can get to him_." She frowned, her new, lavender eyes narrowing with irritation. She hadn't quite anticipated that.

Whether he had woken up, however, was quickly shown to be the least of Aaroniero's problems. What met her eyes wasn't the towering majesty of the White Night Palace, Las Noches. Instead, she was confronted by a pile of marble stone ruin; the tower that had been constructed for their Lord Aizen was entirely demolished in the wake of the ensuing calamity. "_As symbolic as this is, it does pose a bit of a problem,_" She continued her inner dialogue even as an embittered expression crossed her face. Bending down, she picked up one of the pieces of marble that had been used to build the tower. "_I'm probably going to have to dig for the body. I didn't intend for this kind of grunt work, though I suppose there's a certain bit of merit when you put some backbone into it._"

Kneeling down, Aaroniero placed a lithe hand to the rubble, and closed her eyes. Focusing on the aspect of Angelle Cooney within her soul, she activated her new Pesquisa;**Vista de la Bruja**. Her senses spread beyond the rubble that laid in front of her, delving deep into the depths of the ruins, and a figure caught her 'eye'. Not only could she feel a substantial Reiryoku building, but she shivered with a mixture of excitement and even a twinge of trepidation at the sheer rage she could feel.

"_He's a stubborn one after all._" She thought, opening her eyes as she realized she wasn't going to have to do any work at all; he was going to come right to her.

There was a giant tremble, the ruins beneath her quaking, and Aaroniero braced herself. A gargantuan explosion followed, sending the debris hurtling upwards in an eruption of dirt, dust, and sand. "_Going up!_" Aaroniero gripped onto a larger piece of marble as the gust sent her hurtling upwards, her light weight playing against her. As the smoke cleared, Aaroniero couldn't suppress her shock at what she witnessed.

Yammy stood in a massive crater, formed most likely during the release of Reiatsu she'd just experienced. His form was domineering, several stories tall, and he had undergone a massive transformation. Aaroniero's eyes widened large as saucers as she took in the full sight of Yammy. He had become massive, his body towering over the former Arrancar girl. As high up as she was, she could still see his head within her line of sight, and as she began to descend with the rest of the rubble, more of his body came into view. While his torso remained largely the same, she noticed eight large elephant-like legs jutting out on each side of his lower body, extending back like a horrific centipede. They were connected, segmented, to his body, and led out to a long tail that ended in a bony club. Jutting out from his elbows and back were purplish-gray cylindrical tubes; similar nodules appeared alongside his arm. Even his mask had changed, merging with his jawbone.

As Aaroniero landed back down onto the sand, she could feel a drop of sweat slipping down her skull, the whole of Yammy's Reiatsu could be felt, only adding to the intimidating form he now possessed. "_I might have to put some work into this after all._"

* * *

**Chapter 10**

**The Shattered Moon**

* * *

**Center of Las Noches' Ruined Desert Wastes**

It was like Grimmjow all over again.

Ichigo felt the intensity and weight of every action he implemented at accelerated momentum across the desert air and grained earth. Twirling around his midnight hued form streaked across like a wraith while the stark white armored form of Rana came after him with lustful vigor. He lost count how many times they exchanged weapon strikes, each parry feeling a surge of adrenaline that flowed up his muscles and projected Reiatsu through his arms across his weapon.

His enemy didn't skip a beat either. Despite her impressive size and set of armor, even her choice of weapon, she managed to move at a velocity around his own. A cleaver of white bone swung around her head to meet his elegantly obsidian colored blade. Scarlet and white Reiatsu blossomed around her powerful limbs while a thick gout of red outlined black thrummed around his. The pair of warriors mirrored each other with expressions but were as opposite as night and day.

But the poetry was lost on the Substitute as he kept fighting for his life.

"_**Aren't ya lovin' this, Shinigami?!**_" Rana howled with unabated bloodlust in her voice. Swinging her claymore in a horizontal line it was only thanks to Ichigo's timing that he could bend his upper body below the cutting fissure tearing through the air. The wind itself carried the space distorting Reishi, cutting across the tops of sand dunes and blowing back the grains around him. "_**I've never felt so alive in the last fifty years! Keep entertaining me until the bitter end!**_"

"_**You sure like to talk, don't you?**_" Ichigo muttered lowly with his body twirling to the left, avoiding a downward cleaving strike, upheaving a hundred meters distance of sand behind him. Clawing at the sand to make a Shunpo platform beneath his palm the Visored propelled himself swiftly past Rana's guard, swinging his sword in a rising arc. He'd barely see through the periphery of his masked gaze flecks of bone armor and droplets of blood flying off the edge of his sword when he properly righted himself.

By that time, he found Rana's spiked pauldron covering her right shoulder ramming into his face from a well timed Sonido. Behind the alabaster coating of Hollow Reiryoku, Ichigo coughed as his nose was nearly broken from the impact. A snap kick by talon-affixed digits dug into his chest, launching him a meter into the air while he spat out blood through his faux teeth. With a single arm she slashed a curtain of Reishi surrounding her sword at Ichigo, barely blocked by his own Zanpakutō braced by his arm crossing it from behind.

Launched high up into the air, Ichigo could only get a glance of the rapidly shrinking figure of his enemy. Her weapon, finished swinging to be held at her right side, thrummed with a resonating glow of bright white that enveloped the weapon. Grasping both hands together she jettisoned herself from the sand up towards her nemesis, closing the distance with three well placed Sonido.

"_**Espada Cero!**_" She snarled with a two-handed lash of her Zanpakutō, coating her horizon's vista in a piercing white that shimmered with scarlet along its precipices. It was only to her chagrin that a visceral red orb of Reishi tore through her wide Cero to bore into her. With only a moment of decision to make, she shouldered into the wave of super heated energy before swiping her arm to the left to send it off course. Her scaled arm came out scalded and steaming but none worse for wear unlike if she took the Cero that exploded mightily in the distance.

"_**What's the matter?**_" Ichigo sneered across the vapor of Reiatsu separating the airborne pair. "_**Does the has-been Primera like making half-assed attacks or were you all talk this whole time?**_"

"_**Shut your damned mouth**_," Rana hissed, ending in a full blown howl that complemented the charging thrust aimed at Ichigo's chest. "_**SHINIGAMI!**_"

Seeing the Arrancar take the bait, Ichigo read the telegraphed movement with ease. Vaulting over her weapon and shoulders, lancing Tensa Zangetsu into the armored right shoulder. In a split instant of Getsuga iginition across its tip, the pauldron was ripped off in an explosion of plating drawing more small drops of blood from her skin. Forward flipping he kicked off a platform of Reiatsu to thrust again, scraping the plating covering her scaled back as she turned to meet him.

Palming the air he flipped perpendicular to her to avoid a downward slash, disappearing in another blur to thrust repeatedly around the edges of her guard. Bit by bit he was chipping away at her defenses, making quick work to take advantage of his Getsuga coated stabs made. Armor, scales and blood began to spin around the infuriated Quatro Espada, desperate to meet his attack head-on.

Through her Pesquisa in combination with her periphery vision she saw him come at her from her back left. Aiming for a spot one would assumed to be vulnerable he corkscrewed his Getsuga covered sword at her left shoulder blade. When her left elbow crashed into the flat of his sword he found his attack to scuff the plating of her upper back plating, dispersing its Reiatsu force empowering it. Still stumbling forward he was unable to stop the flat of Rana's cleaver from hitting him across the left flank of his cranium.

Feeling his vision exploded into a field of coalescing colors that faded briefly to black, his eyes regained its clarity once he felt his body hit the sandy earth below with a thunderous impact to his covered face and upper body. Buried in pale grains he coughed as he struggled to rise up, still hearing a defining ringing in his ears. An exposed left eye that showed an open wound spill blood close to his dark sclera yellow iris turned to look over his shoulder at the heavens, seeing the crescent moon at her back.

"_**Get ready to be crushed, masked freak!**_" Rana howled through her own bone helm, her hair flailing in the wind as her Reiatsu spiked around her visibly. A scarlet fissure of Reiatsu born Reishi left the guard of her sword, expanding astronomically in length across the sky, crackling with ribbons of white light as it continued to swell. When the one meter thick by three meter wide weapon finished forming, a vibrantly lit scarlet blade of one hundred meters in full length.

"_**Holy shit**_!" Ichigo exclaimed as he scrambled to his feet to look up at the weapon Rana had forged. "_**That thing could cut my school half! Just how much compensation does she need?!**_"

"_**Disyuntor Mundial**_," Rana declared gutturally as the blade was raised over her head to point at the nightly heavens. "_**This is your end, Shinigami Shit. Accept your death as I cut you into oblivion!**_"

Descending down, the newly anointed Espada rushed to her enemy, weapon still held above her head as she gained proximity to the Substitute. She could see him raise sword in preparation, a coating of Getsuga Reiatsu alight across the metal frame. A bare dozen meters before her feet could touch the ground she swung the weapon downward. The result was a complete bisection of the desert that lied in front of her, plummeting her target while sweeping through the thick floor of loose grains.

As a wide open trench was forged she continued to dive with her prey close at hand. Her precariously large weapon cut swathes through what looked like a white barked forest hidden from sight and massive in scope as Hueco Mundo's sandy plains. It was only known by one name and was the birthplace of many Hollows; sentient and mindless alike.

The Menos Forest.

The place from which she had summoned Gillian up to fight on her behest now was bathed in the flames of felled trees the height of skyscrapers. Timber and kindling smoldered down, blown back by the falling former Privaron. Seeing an impact crater below with the silhouette of her target deep in uneven soil, she grinned manically with hunger for blood.

Landing feet first a mere dozen meters she heaved her weapon with all her strength to annihilate her foe. Limbs and towering tree tops were misshapen, torn apart with her aim in a straight line. A wafting blaze of orange and gold tongues flew in either direction when the blade of Reishi crashed into the earth, creating an even deeper trench while discharging a shockwave that blew back more of the wooden glade. If it wasn't for that spasm of alarm her vibration based Pesquisa felt she would have rejoiced.

Amidst the tide of flames from her own attack's onslaught was Ichigo's fully masked visage, snarling with viscerally inhuman eyes glaring at her. Drawing closer in a span of time she couldn't turn to swing her weapon, she primed a Bala around her right hand and thrust it as a knife hand jab at his sword's tip. An explosion of pressure was created, revealing Ichigo's incinerated sleeves and burnt arms from parrying the attack. What also was shown was that he used one hand for the thrust, allowing his left arm to swing around in a Reiatsu red glow aimed towards her helm protected face.

A crunching sound was heard as a splitting sound of compressed Reiatsu was released at point blank of her protected skull. The face plate was instantaneously shattered, faux teeth crumbling like dissolving glass and the bone material dissipating into dust like deteriorating molars. Vehemently crimson eyes dipped in a sea of black blinked and cringed at the shock throttling her skull.

Unsteadily she stumbled back, her projected weapon of Reishi dissipated into a rising field of sparks. Blood dripped down from the open gashes from where her mask was covering it, down each cheek and across the forehead. Even her nostrils and lips bled of it, with only a minor circlet remaining to keep her hair in a ponytail that fluttered behind her bowed head. It matched the various cuts made across her beautifully scaled body, marred by burnt lacerations peppered across her sides to bare shoulders and backside. Only her bipedal saurian legs seemed relatively untouched from the majority of the battle.

"_**You're finished, Rana!**_" Ichigo declared, walking slowly towards her with an even measured pace. "_**Give up and I may let you walk away. Killing someone who hates Aizen seems pointless and I got bigger problems to deal with than you**_."

"Fuckin idiot," She hissed out with her bangs hiding her eyes. Her lattice covered fingers tightened around her cleaver as she took one solid step forward. With another, she throttled herself bodily forward till her already split forehead rammed into Ichigo's masked face. Startling him long enough to gain an initiative, she swung her sword with a powerful arc that sent the guarded Visored flying a good dozen meters away. Seeing him land with a grinding halt on his heels, she pointed her weapon towards him across the expanse, shouting venomously. "This is Hueco Mundo! I don't give a damn if you are Shinigami, Arrancar, Hollow or Human. Once you start a fight with me, it ends with death! Bloodshed is the purest mutual emotion that all beings possess. We all have it in common and I intend to reciprocate you for all the pain you've brought upon me!"

"_**This is insane! You'd rather kill me or die in a stupid fight that doesn't even involve Aizen?!**_" Ichigo shouted with scathing bewilderment, swinging his own free hand aside with heavy emphasis.

"This next attack is my strongest. Even with your great speed, you can't evade it and I hell sure don't plan on you living through it!" She cried out. Holding her weapon as straight as she could while guard of the weapon began projecting spirals of Reishi that oscillated in a clockwise fashion. When it became a near indiscernible blur of scarlet, the sound a rocket being propelled followed the bone cleaver launching at a sonic boom from the hilt. Such force was exerted that it caused Rana to skid back several meters just as the weapon flowed forward, bathed in a large veil of scarlet ebbed white Reiatsu.

Just like before, Ichigo's hyper perception kicked in and he saw the world slow before his sight. He could see a double-edged sword of bone, covered with an enormous amount of Reiatsu while thrust forward at far faster velocity than he could simply dodge. With his Zanpakutō already alight with Getsuga energy, he swung it upward in a deep blackening arc, crashing straight into the weapon.

A brief clash of two opposing pressures could be seen, one weapon's integrity challenging another. The earth buckled, broke and deepened into a recessed pit while a whirlwind of contrasting colored energies fought for dominance. A loud hollowed shout and the sword of midnight bifurcated Rana's discharged weapon. The look on her face told him that not only was she shocked from what he could see, but she was livid.

"You just won't die-!"

"_**Getsuga**_," He murmured through his Hollowfied Reiryoku covering, pulling back his sword at a diagonal angle over his right shoulder upon finishing his destruction of Rana's weapon. Seeing Rana leap forward in a single Sonido, the seemingly blade less weapon ejected a hidden sword of steel from the hollow point of the scabbard. Moving in for the kill, Ichigo slashed a final time as he unleashed his strongest attack. "_**TENSHŌ**__**!**_"

It was like staring death in the eye for Rana.

Thrusting her sword into the tidal wave of Reishi that towered over her more than her own Disyuntor Mundial, she saw the fabric of energy contort and bend as her own body was engulfed by her maximum output of Reiatsu. It felt like her innards were on fire, eyes alight with a gleam of vengeful malice and anger as her throat shrieked out. Her feet dug into the rapidly disintegrating earth, the Getsuga bending and contorting to a wider wave rather than tall.

Seething hisses escaped her teeth as she took a step forward, pushing the Getsuga back. Another came as her infernal mantle of light kept burning brightly around her. A hateful roar escaped her bleeding mouth that spat out ichor and spittle alike as she pushed back against the attack, "I am...Primera Espada...Rana Zolinder! Queen of Hueco Mundo! I will not lose to a Shinigami punk like you!"

Shoving her body against the burning wave of Reishi till her shoulders were embedded into it, searing her scaled skin as her eyes almost penetrated the gout of darkness making up the technique. Another step forward and she could feel the Visored's presence from beyond. Just one more step and she'd achieve victory, vengeance and dominance once more.

Another step was made and the sound of a deafening crack was heard. Looking horrified over her shoulder, she saw the blade that was pushing back the Getsuga fly away, crumbling to ashes once it hit the earth. Her edge-less Zanpakutō was soon overwhelmed and her face was struck full force along with her upper body. Yet, she didn't give up.

"NO!" Rana screamed, shoving her body against the wave that drove her back meters every second. Blood ebbed around her palms that was in the center of the maelstrom of infinite black. A bristle of scarlet was seen, buried deep within its core, crackling and warping within the immense wave that was already tearing apart the Menos Forest around her as it continued to push her back at a swift pace.

When the energy was full primed, she fired it within her desperation and broken sanity, shouting out loud, "**GRAN REY CERO**!"

There was an instantaneous reaction that occurred within the wall of darkness that had dragged on for nearly half a kilometer in the forest of white. A large swelling of bright red ballooned the black, wrapping it all around it like a cyclone. Then a fissure of golden tendrils cracked through the Reiatsu infused Reishi of black with a rupture in space. An indomitable explosion with the force pulled all the forestry around it inward before jettisoning outward to be a spherical release of cerulean light.

Flowing outward the increasing mass of the Gran Rey Cero's blast quickly overtook even the likes of Ichigo. Forced to shield himself by using a collaboration of Reiatsu and a second Getsuga, the flames wrapped around him, burning at his kosode or eating at his mask's integrity as the blast demolished the forest farther than he could comprehend. Pushing against the shockwave that jettisoned him along the path of the flames that devoured the underbelly of Hueco Mundo, the swelling giant Reishi bomb towered higher than the towers that remained in Las Noches' ruins.

Finally released from the clutches of the blast, Ichigo jettisoned himself upward with a few blind Shunpo. Landing tentatively on a platform, he gasped for breath, watching the rest of his mask become brittle and fall into pieces that dissipated into dark wisps of Reishi. Despite his badly scalded skin that ripped almost the entirety of his kosode away, along with his burnt gash along the side of his head, he was in far better shape than what he assumed of the defeated Rana.

Looking down he gasped at the sight of what was created by the Cero meeting his Getsuga. Not only did it wipe out his attack but it detonated in a way that leveled nearly several kilometers of white forestry and its sandy tops. Space from his point of view seem to warp and twist, like an elaborate mirage was taking place.

"She fired that fuckin' thing into my Getsuga Tenshō? I don't know whether to call her insane or brave," He rasped out to himself. Feeling beads of sweat trickle down, he lowered himself gently as he could but felt incredibly deprived of energy. He could only assume between sustaining his Hollowfied state, the Getsuga he fired and then enduring the Cero explosion that he was taxed to his limit.

Feeling himself let go, the rush of inertia hit him as the wind lapped at his wounds and aching body. He had no way to pull up if he was going to land on the sandy wastes that was Las Noches soil. Closing his eyes he braced for a painful impact.

Instead he got glomped into something soft and buoyant.

Blinking, he found himself in the arms of Nelliel, having leaped up to catch him before crashing painfully below. A tight hug made him reconsider his choice saviors, causing him to muffle distressingly within her exposed cleavage.

"Oh, Ichigo! I was so worried you'd die in that explosion!" Nel cried out with ecstatic glee, almost entirely ignorant of Ichigo's arms clapping her sides to relent.

"Uh, Miss Nel," Orihime mentioned, having taken the liberty to levitate the injured Chad while the other Shinigami trailed behind using their own Shunpo to levitate in the sky. "You're hurting him right now!"

Blinking with childish realization, she released Ichigo from her door to bosom heaven and saw the blue-faced Substitute inhale desperately for air. Blabbering out her apologies the other Shinigami could only look on with their own mixed reactions of wonder, annoyance and confusion.

Only the eyes of Aaron-Chad looked into the distance of a particular vista that lied just beyond their horizon near the farthest corner of what was Las Noches. It didn't take two guesses to feel what the original was going through, having relinquished most parallel thinking to the Calavera until she was finished with business elsewhere. Until then, the copy could do nothing but wait and hope nothing goes wrong on this end.

* * *

**White Palace, Shortly Before Rana's Gran Rey Cero Explosion**

Aaroniero felt the ground tremble as Yammy took a massive step forward; this was followed by a strong gust of wind. She saw him thrust his arm forward, releasing a giant blast of energy from his fist which went hurtling off into the distance, creating a gargantuan explosion of red Reishi.

"_That was a Bala!_" She noted, shocked. The explosion had kicked up a massive amount of dust, created a virtual sandstorm to hurl in all directions. It appeared Yammy's powers were now vastly increased in accordance with his new stature.

"WHAT IN THE HELL IS GOING ON!?" The enraged Arrancar shouted, and Aaroniero briefly thought that he had taken notice of her. "I TURN MY ATTENTION AWAY FROM THE ACTION FOR A FEW MOMENTS AND I WIND UP COVERED IN DEBRIS, LOOKING LIKE A FOOL! WHOEVER DESTROYED LAS NOCHES AND DISRUPTED MY MEAL...IS GOING TO PAY FOR THIS!"

"_H-His voice! It's like thunder!_" The girl covered her ears, eyes wincing. She didn't need her Pesquisa at this point to feel him. He was as obvious as an act of nature; a walking storm. Regardless, she had a mission and she needed to see it done. And for that, she needed his attention.

"You really don't change, do you?!" She called up, magnifying her voice as loudly as it could go.

"WHAT THE HELL...!?" The gargantuan Arrancar grunted, and even his grunt was as loud as a bellowing beast. His large head began to survey the surroundings, looking beneath his feet, he saw a figure his eyes could barely make out. Bending his torso down, Aaroniero came into the focus on Yammy's eyes, and the Arrancar squinted. "YOU LOOK FAMILIAR...WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?"

"I'll give it time to click in your head, I'm honestly in no hurry," Aaroniero replied casually, and she could see a vein throb in Yammy's forehead. "I'm sure every Espada in Hueco Mundo recognizes this face."

"YOU..." Yammy growled. the gears in his head were turning, and after a solid minute, the realization hit him. He remembered this girl's face, her impassive expression, from Aaroniero's Cognition Synchronization, the broadcast that the entire Espada had been forced to witness a few hours ago. "_Was it four...six...forget it, time is way too hard to keep track of in this place!_" Rather than try and figure out the time, he jabbed a thumb towards Aaroniero, who looked back unflinchingly.

"YOU...YOU'RE THAT ANT WHO KILLED AARONIERO!" His thunderous voice boomed around her. "ALL OF THAT TALK, AND THAT PIECE OF TRASH GOES AND DIES SUCH A PATHETIC DEATH! I'LL NEVER FORGET THAT BASTARD, LORDING HIS RANK OVER MINE. HE NEVER COULD SHUT UP!"

A vein throbbed in Aaroniero's head, and her lips tightened in irritation. "_A piece of trash, am I?_"

"SO WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED HERE, YOU LITTLE RUNT!?" Yammy thundered, standing back up to his full height — which would have intimidated someone other than Aaroniero from sheer size alone — and gesturing to the ruins of Las Noches. "LAS NOCHES IS IN RUINS, AND YET YOU'RE SCAMPERING AROUND IN ONE PIECE! DID YOU DO THIS!?"

"I think I'll let your brain catch up to the situation yourself," Aaroniero replied calmly. "It's fitting to see that this your released state; the body of a beast to match the mental faculties of one."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY!?" Yammy snarled in a rage. "FORGET IT; I DON'T NEED TO GET ANSWERS OUT OF A PIECE OF TRASH LIKE YOU! INSTEAD, I'LL SIMPLY KILL YOU NOW!" Raising an arm, Yammy swung it down towards Aaroniero, the resulting collision kicking up a giant cloud of sand. "HM!?" Yammy couldn't feel anything under his palm; the Shinigami had vanished.

Detectable only by the pitter-patter of feet running along a surface, Aaroniero was racing on the top of Yammy's arm, her hand resting on the hilt of her sword. Yammy could feel her, however, and violently pulled his arm back, upsetting Aaroniero's footing and causing her to fall from her perch towards the sand below. She flipped herself over in the middle of the air, skidding to a violent stop along the sand as Yammy wound around towards her.

"_He's poised to attack again!_" She thought, her attentiveness raising as she saw him raise his left arm and thrust it forward. Aaroniero reacted instantly, leaping above the gigantic arm, spiraling in mid-air in an elegant flip, and landing side the fist as it collided with the ground. As she looked up, her eyes glanced over Yammy's figure, and she saw it; on his left shoulder, instead of the 10 which she'd been so familiar with during her time as one of Aizen's Espada, she saw a black '0' etched across his shoulder.

"Your mark...a 0?" She pointed at his new tattoo for emphasis. "What it this? An Arrancar...no, an Espada, with the rank of 0? That's got to be some sort of joke."

"THIS!?" Yammy jabbed a thick thumb towards his tattoo, a guttural laugh escaping his throat. "WHO EVER TOLD YOU THE ESPADA WERE NUMBERED FROM ONE THROUGH TEN!? THE NUMBERS GO FROM ZERO TO NINE! I'M THE ONLY ESPADA WHO'S NUMBER CHANGES WHEN I FULLY RELEASE! I AM YAMMY LLARGO, THE CERO ESPADA!"

"The Cero Espada?" Aaroniero tried to suppress the laughter in her voice, looking up at her opponent. "You're serious? Are you sure Aizen took you seriously when he gave you that rank?" Aaroniero placed a hand on the hilt of her blade, drawing it from its scabbard with a flourish. "Though you do bring about a point; I suppose if you've bothered to release your sword, I should do the same."

The temperature around them began to fall, catching even Yammy's attention with the sudden change. While Hueco Mundo didn't experience what Humans and Shinigami would consider 'hot' weather, he could never quite remember it being so cold either. As he eyed Aaroniero's blade, he witnessed a stunning transformation; the entire blade had become a glowing white, like crystal, and a dense, cold fog was settling over the area.

"My Zanpakutō's name is Sode no Shirayuki. Remember it, if nothing else."

"LIKE HELL I NEED TO REMEMBER THAT!" Yammy cocked his fist back, and it began to glow red.

Aaroniero wasn't a fool; she knew precisely what Yammy was going to do. Quickly, she raised her hands in front of her body, just as Yammy thrust his arm forward, releasing a massive sphere of red from his fist that completely covered Aaroniero's field of vision. There was a large explosion, followed by an equally huge tremor as a dome of red colored energy manifested where the attack had collided with Aaroniero.

"HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT!?" Yammy gloated. "AND THAT WASN'T EVEN A CERO; THAT WAS A BALA!" His gloating, however, didn't last long; when the explosion subsided, Aaroniero was no longer there. Standing in her place was a rectangular barrier, upright, and severely cracked. It finally gave way in its totality, crumbling like shards of glass. Whatever it was, it had allowed her to survive his Bala unharmed.

"WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GO!?" The Espada roared in anger, looking around frantically for some kind of movement. "STAY STILL, YOU LITTLE BUG!" Out of the corner of Yammy's eye, he saw a lone figure standing, as if waiting for him to make his move. "SO YOU'RE THERE, ARE YOU!?" In a blind rage, Yammy moved forward, as much as his large body would allow, thrusting his fist forward with enough force to do far more than shatter bone. When his fist came into contact with the target, it shattered entirely, revealing grains of sand, frozen in ice shards, stunning the Arrancar.

"_Ice!?_"

"You're strong, befitting that large size of yours, I'll give you that." Aaroniero walked towards Yammy's arm slowly, twirling her sword with a certain elegance to it, the ribbon dancing behind her. "But if size is all you have, you're not going to be able to keep up with my speed." She placed her sword to the tip of Yammy's arm before vanishing with a burst of Shunpo, appearing now on Yammy's shoulder.

"WHAT THE...!?" Yammy, as if to glare at her, but he didn't have time to complete the action. The near instant Aaroniero had moved, Yammy's arm had frozen through, appearing as if encased in a glass-coating. "YOU BASTARD! MY ARM! WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY ARM!?"

"You won't need it," Aaroniero replied simply, extending a hand. A sphere of red light began to form, but it was enveloped and eclipsed by a sphere of vibrant blue light. The colors melded, forming a vibrant sphere, purple in color, floating in front of Aaroniero's hand. "So I think I'll be taking it from you. **Hadō #33. Sōkatsui!**" With a bellow, she leapt from his shoulder, and the sphere elongated into a power beam that shattered Yammy's frozen arm on contact, the whole ice figure being reduced to nothing but shattered frost.

Yammy let out a massive roar of pain, screaming in rage and indignation. "DAMN YOU!" He snarled, clutching at his new stub, the wound frozen over entirely. "YOU...PUNY...INSIGNIFICANT...!"

Aaroniero skidded back, forming a bridge of ice beneath her feet. Glancing at her body, she noticed frost was creeping up on her as well, and could feel ice beginning to cling to her face. Even her breath was visible before her body. "_So this is the extent of Rukia's power. No...there's still more I've yet to fully master...more than even she had time to master..._" The former Arrancar couldn't help but grin as she looked down at Yammy from her new perch. "What's wrong. big boy? Do you need a hand?"

"WHAT ARE YOU...!?" He panted, the rage thick in his cracking voice. "THAT ATTACK OF YOURS WAS LACED WITH A CERO! THAT WAS NO SHINIGAMI TECHNIQUE!"

Aaroniero placed a thin finger to her chin. It seemed he wasn't as slow as she figured. "For the sake of conversation, you can call me Rukia. Rukia Kuchiki. I've already forgotten your name, but that's no matter; I don't think I'll need to remember it any longer than you're going to need to remember mine."

"YOU SMART MOUTHED LITTLE SHIT...! YOU KEEP MAKING ME ANGRIER!" Yammy opened his mouth, and thin rays of light began to extend from it as a black sphere, outlined in a dull burgundy colored glow, formed in front of his mouth.

At this moment, even Aaroniero's eyes widened. She recognized this technique, and knew it well. All Espada were well versed in this unique skill. "_That's...that's our Cero! The Cero of a released Espada! The Cero Oscuras!_" She gripped Sode no Shirayuki; had it been possible to sweat with her body temperature as low as it was, she was sure she would have been. A Cero Oscuras wasn't a child's toy; such a technique was forbidden by Aizen to be released under the canopy of Los Noches. Out here, however, under the night sky of Hueco Mundo, Yammy wasn't constrained by her former lord's wishes.

"_As gigantic as he's become, the blast radius is going to be enormous!_" Aaroniero's mind was already processing the potential damage from Yammy's attack. "_I won't get away from an attack of that magnitude unscathed...and I don't eve think my Danku is going to be enough to block it._" She eyed her sword briefly, but refused her own idea before she'd had a chance to properly propose it. "_With such a large blast radius, at my current level, I can't freeze the entirety of that blast...I'm going to have to redirect it!"_

"YOU'RE FIN-!" Yammy's voice bellowed thickly, but he was interrupted seconds later by a rope of thick golden chains surrounding his neck. His Cero still charged in his mouth, the Espada gripped at the chains, trying to rip them from his body but they wouldn't come apart. "WHATH ITH THIS!?"

"**Bakudō #63. Sajō Sabaku.**"

Aaroniero appeared on Yammy's shoulders, her voice as cold as her body. Under her feet, Yammy's shoulder beginning to freeze. "It's time to take you down a peg!" She gripped the golden chains tied to her hands, and pulled. Much to Yammy's own surprise, the frail-looking girl was able to force him back a considerable degree, head and neck bending backwards. The shock of the movement upset the Cero, causing the blast to jettison upward from Yammy's mouth, manifesting as a large pillar of black and burgundy light that shot into the sky. The sheer size of the technique made it visible well into the distance.

Simultaneously, made slightly aware to Aaroniero, there was a larger more bombastic explosion that occurred in the horizon. It was blue in color and spread a vast distance, overlapping what she could guess was a sizable amount of Las Noches center landscape. Putting speculation aside as to what happened, she heard the sudden groans of grained sand begin to part as the Cero continued to pour out of Yammy's strangled mouth.

Underneath his long body, the sand began to give way, Yammy's weight and the sheer force of a blast fired into the sky began to force him down, deeper into the sand. Aaroniero released her chains, and allowed herself to fall at her own pace while the gigantic figure of Yammy tumbled into the darkness below the sand. There was a resounding crash, followed by the crunching of mineral, as Yammy tried to straighten himself in the new environment he found himself in.

"WHAT...WHAT IS THIS!?" Yammy growled, as the Kidō spell fell from his neck and Aaroniero landed on a soft sheet of ice. "YOU ANNOYING LITTLE BUG, WHAT DID YOU DO!?"

"You've been asking that a lot, I've noticed," The girl replied, shaking sand and dust off her body. It had already frozen, however, and fell away like glittering crystals. "This is the _Bosque de los Menos_. I've actually been here once before. It's where the general Hollow population hide from you Espada." Correction: Rukia had been to this forest once before, but Aaroniero was more than aware of the memories stored away in her body.

"HOW!?" Was the only word Yammy could let escape his throat as he tried to re-position himself, still recovering from that crashing fall.

"It's pretty simple, honestly. Even you could figure it out, if you bothered to sit back and look at it objectively," Aaroniero replied, raising a finger to illustrate how simple it all was. "There wasn't any way I could block the entirety of your Cero, that much was true; Kidō would be pointless against a blast that large, and my Sode no Shirayuki is unable to fully freeze your Cero, not with my current experience level. The only other option was to turn your abilities against you."

"AGAINST...ME...!?"

"That's right, you're keeping up." Aaroniero smiled. "You're not a small guy; all I needed was to get your Cero angled upwards, and the resulting force of that blast, combined with your mass...well, the sand beneath your feet just couldn't handle it. It gave way, crumbled, and here we are. And now..." She raised Sode no Shirayuki to her side. "I'm going to finish the job."

"HEH...HEH...HAH...HAH...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" A thundering laugh escaped Yammy's throat, stunning Aaroniero, causing her to slacken for a moment. "I SEE...THANK YOU FOR PROVIDING ME SUCH VALUABLE INFORMATION...AND GIVING ME THE TIME I NEEDED TO REGAIN CONTROL OF MYSELF, YOU LITTLE RAT!"

"Regain...control!?" Aaroniero's eyes narrowed, one eyebrow raising in surprise. But her questions were answered by steam that began to lift upward from Yammy's body, quickly followed by a burst of Reiatsu, an explosion that shook the forest. Burgundy energy began to rise into the air, covering the entirety of Yammy's gargantuan figure. This display, however, wasn't just for show. Aaroniero could feel it.

_His Reiatsu was increasing_.

The energy pillar began to shrink, condensing inward until it reached a manageable size. Once the energy had subsided, the giant that had been Yammy was gone. He had shrunk, his body was now only towering over Aaroniero by only a few additional feet. His eyes were entirely blanked out, no irises being visible, with only the white sclera. His Hollow mask had adjusted itself slightly, fusing the upper lip of his mouth with his lower jaw, and two additional attachments were connected by the cheeks. The dark protrusions had not changed slightly atop his head, however, they were now perched above a white skull. Yammy's arms, however, had grown, becoming colossal in proportion to his body, the muscles bulging, his hands massive; they resembled the arms of apes without the fur, and reached down to his knees. The purplish-gray cylindrical tubes that were previously jutting from his back had changed position, altering; instead they were now attached to his chest, stomach, and neck. The nodules in his elbows increased in size, and now sported chains. As opposed to traditional pants, bandages wrapped around his waist and legs; similar bandages could be found on his biceps. The '0' that was his tattoo had also vanished from his shoulder.

"What...is this?" Aaroniero gasped. She could feel it, his Reiatsu had increase to an insane degree; had she not contained such a large reservoir herself, she would be choking from the sheer pressure.

"This...?" Yammy held his arms to either side of his body. "This is the second stage of my Zanpakutō, Ira. My power is anger; rage gives me strength. The angrier I become, the stronger I am. And you did a good job of pissing me off in this battle, girly. But...when I get my anger under control, when I can channel it into my strength properly, I evolve, and am granted this form. This is a state of tranquil fury. I want to crush your bones so badly I can almost taste it...so...shall we resume our little scuffle?"

She paused for a handful of seconds, weighing her options. By using her Pesquisa she could tell that the cold rush flowing up and down her spine wasn't just her Zanpakutō. His strength could easily rival somewhere of Ulquiorra's released state she wagered. Though it was purely hypothetical at this point she had little to go off of when bench marking her own level of Reiryoku stored within her that her body could handle at the moment.

"Yes," She finally answered, causing Yammy's deformed grin to widen and arms raise with readiness. "Let's...end this facade, Yammy."

It was within a heartbeat echoing the sound of a brush flinging through the air that Aaroniero made her move. Scarcely employing Zommari's Aspect to assist her move at maximum speed, she plunged the edge of her Sode no Shirayuki deep into Yammy's left eye socket. Without him even realizing he was in pain or that the sword was embedded into his skull, the whole of his brain and skull without was frozen solid within a second. With a dispassionate gaze cast at the lifeless, stupidly grinning face of her former comrade she pulled back in time for the skull to shatter like fragile glass. The whole of Yammy's body fell forward lifelessly and lay inert over the now frost covered earth below.

"Fighting you was a nice exercise to test the limits of my Shinigami powers and the amount of Reiryoku I could tap into without relying on my other Aspects heavily. I could have killed you any time I want using any number of methods but this felt the most suitable. Avoiding a particularly bad play on words, you were always empty headed and your lack of intelligence was going to be your downfall. Not using your head made you lose it, I guess," Aaroniero spoke to herself as she busied herself dropping to the earth and beginning the devouring process. She had to be thankful that, of the potential sub-forms an Arrancar's Sword Release could possess, he got smaller in the end. He could have turned into a larger, hairy beast that would have taken ages to finish devouring.

Taking nearly a solid minute to devour and a little longer to cope with the rush of power she felt, there was a distinct crash not far beyond her hearing range. Cleaning herself up she warily leaped across the hauntingly silent glad devoid of the surface's light. The dim layout eventually gave way to a line of snapped trees of a high speeding projectile or individual had crashed into. Turning to look where it ended she nearly felt herself leap with joy. She had faintly suspected that the plummeting signature meant she had disappeared but it was simply a brief erasing blip in her radar.

Rana Zolinder, the Privaron Primera Espada.

"What's left of her," She thought morosely, seeing that both of the Arrancar's arms were gone from the upper arm down. Gauging from the severity of the burns and bleeding that only worsened with the flight she took across the moonless forest. Faint signs of breath could be seen but soon wouldn't be a factor any longer. Hungrily staring down at her former compatriot she remembered her time spent in the first formed Espada, having watched her endure her fate of betrayal and imprisoned isolation. She felt no pity for someone so volatile and untrustworthy.

But now, she was going to serve a higher purpose. Detaching the mouth-shaped tendril that her left arm embodied she watched with rapt attention as the Arrancar's broken body was chewed up and ingested into her, taking in every detail she desired. When her own Aspect joined the host of others, along with her Reiryoku, she felt herself practically throb with continuous life. She was so enjoying the feeling of rapidly growing strength she nurtured with every devouring of enemies she had faced one after another.

To handle it, she knew there was something that had to be done.

Sheathing her Zanpakutō to the point of sealing it, she raised her left arm in a presenting manner towards the dark canopy of the Menos Forest. Inhaling deeply, she exhaled in a low hiss her initiative, "**Devour, Glotonería**."

By that point, a large surge of flesh and Reiatsu rushed to the surface, threatening to completely erupt from the underdark she currently presided in. Using all of her willpower she controlled the output to a small radius, containing it as the sea of dark colored flesh flowed beneath her hakama skirt. The formerly invertebrate form had turned into a grinding bud that was full of untapped Aspects never before utilized. Sighing she felt her body submerge into the viscous pool of Aspects and Reiryoku she had gathered. With petals of a purple petaled rose she became entombed in her own projected essence. Tendrils probed and wrapped around her, diligently working on evolving her into the next state of her higher state of being.

It was only as she was drifting into a rapturous slumber as her mind swam through the memories of her own and those she assembled that something was amiss on high. Low, where there was a crescent moon beaming its white rays down on all exposed entities there was a spider webbed fissure in its hollow space. Spreading outward, the rupture in space grew until a few pale digits grasped on the "glass". Crushing it into a clenching fist, a figure emerged from a dispersing doorway, draped in white with a partial horned kabuto resting on his raven locks. Emerald eyes glanced around and black lips parted in surprise at what he saw.

When that expression turned into one of solemn, contained fury, one could see if they paid attention to a rippling current of lime tinted Reiatsu flowing around him passively. Like an impending hurricane it howled to the devastated sandy earth below. Only a single name brushed the tongue across his lips, one he knew would be at the height of this chaos that had been unleashed in his absence.

"Ichigo Kurosaki," Ulquiorra Schiffer sneered coldly as his body propelled from the air towards where he saw his presence. "I'll have you answer for this mess. Then, you will wish you stayed dead at my hands."

* * *

**A/N**: And here it is, the long awaited update for A Predator Among Us. We finally get to the 10th Chapter and this is where it all comes to a head. With the Vanguard wiped out, Szayel bested and Yammy devoured the anticipated showdown between Ulquiorra Schiffer and Ichigo Kurosaki is about to take place. How much different will this encounter go? Will Ichigo be able to recover in time to fight the nihilist or will he be kicked down before the fight even begins? Well, we'll find out next update, won't we?

Before I go, let me go over a few things.

First off, you may wonder if there was a shift in writing technique or style at the beginning and end of this Chapter. That was because a dear friend and supporter of my stories lent his hand at writing the scenes involving Aaroniero combating Yammy Llargo. This is due to a Literary Trade where we both took a stab at writing a part or a scene in each other's stories. While he got to write a good portion of my story involving Aaroniero and Yammy, my portion was done in his Dragon Ball Z series, The Erased Chronicles. For those of you wanting to see a genuinely good romantic story with a little action laced into it, I highly recommend it. It is one of the few stories where Gohan is paired up with Erasa and this pairing needs more love than has been given by the Fandom.

Secondly, I'd like to go over how in the official Manga/Anime Cero Oscuras was never said to be forbidden unlike the Sword Releases of Cuatro or higher and Gran Rey Cero. I felt that my friend's suggestion that it should have been banned raised a good point given this is a Cero with a much higher yield of explosive force compared to an ordinary Cero, much like the devastating Gran Rey Cero but in a focused form. So in case you saw something that didn't mesh right with Canon, that was why I allowed that change to happen.

Lastly, for those of you who are only in here to read Aaroniero kicking all kinds of ass and not the REST of the Cast making up BLEACH I'll make sure to make a notice anytime Aaroniero may be largely absent or entirely not given time in a chapter that requires me to show you what's going on elsewhere. Some of you may know what I'm hinting at but I digress, it won't be for a long period of time as this IS Aaroniero's story. I'm the kind of author who doesn't like to push characters to the side or shove opportunities aside for the sake of plot progression. So when the time comes I WILL let you all know when Aaroniero will take a backseat to the story if only to sweeten the outcome that follows.

Now, I take my leave. I hope you all take the time to consider what was written and post your thoughts/comments into the Review Section below. Every Review helps strengthen my Resolve to write another update sooner rather than later. With that in mind, I'll see you guys next time on A Predator Among Us!


	11. Strength of the Heart

**I call out in the darkness but but hear nothing. **

**I search for warmth but only find the endless cold. **

**Would I disappear if I never saw light?**

**Would I be frozen in the infinite if I never felt the Sun's rays?**

**In the midst of Emptiness I hear a steady beat. **

**Like drums of emotion, they call to me. **

**If I am the Void am I able to know what a Heart is?**

* * *

The air had an eerie calm to it.

Ever since their final victory was achieved, it felt too quiet like something was lurking just out of their senses' range. Ichigo couldn't place his thumb on it but it became more apparent since he slew Rana Zolinder. He knew it could have just been nerves but it could be something that he simply forgot that happened in hours prior during their haphazard invasion of Aizen's borders.

Though, that hardly seemed to hold his attention as he felt the bare presence of Nelliel's upper body over his wounded back.

"_It feels so warm yet...I know this is an embarrassing scene if they came back too quickly_," The Substitute Shinigami blushed hotly with this thought, knowing that he was devoid of the shreds of Reiryoku infused cloth. Having insisted on restoring his health while the others went to recovering Captain Kurotsuchi and those he went to assist -more likely study in his case- they allowed Nelliel to stay with the Ally of the Gotei on Ichigo's consent. He didn't realize she'd use so much full body contact but he was hardly in a position to argue. "_I don't want Orihime to exert herself too much on my sorry self all the time. She still needs to help heal others away from here. I'd rather her do that than focus too much on me_-"

"What are you thinking, Ichigo?" Nel finally asked as her arms slid smoothly over his burned arms.

Wincing at the healing salve exuded from her skin over his own, he regained his sense of present awareness; at least enough to answer her. "I just was wondering how long it'd take for them to make contact back with the others. I don't know the difference of distance between us since Las Noches crumbled..."

"I think," The Former Tres Arrancar began to respond, her hands rubbing around his biceps and triceps as she gingerly responded as much as she tended to his wounds. "Between me using Cero Oscuras, and your fight with Rana, it caused too much structural turbulence. A fortress of such spread-out Reishi was bound to collapse sooner or later with such battles taking place."

"Sorry..."

"Huh?" Nelliel turned her head to look at him from the side, watching Ichigo's blush recede as legitimate shame took hold of him. "Sorry for what?"

"I wasn't strong enough before to keep you from being hurt. I wish I was, but-"

"All is forgiven!"

"Hey!" Ichigo turned to scowl at her, ignoring the mere inches that separated their eyes. "You can't just forgive so easily!"

"Why not?" She tilted her head with an innocent query.

"I-It's not that simple," He turned away, his gaze purposefully drawn away from her arms and peculiar stare. "Faults like mine aren't easily forgiven."

Huffing, Nelliel pouted her lips as she kept staring at his turned away visage. Maneuvering around his backside, she aimed her face to slide into his far-off gazing face, causing him to recoil with surprise. "Why are you always so hard on yourself? There's no reason to be this so downtrodden when you just came out of a victory."

"Sor-"

"Stop," She interrupted, causing him to open his mouth with an agape expression. "Just, explain. I want to know more about you anyways so, now is as good of time as any why you're beating yourself up more than your injuries have."

"It's a long story-"

"I'm not going anywhere," Nel replied with a smile.

Sighing, the eldest of the Kurosaki family finally relented. She seemed more stubborn than even Rukia could have been. Turning away from her to look at her hands rubbing his burnt wrists, he saw as much as he felt his hands ball up into fists. He knew where it all started, and he might as well explained from the very beginning.

"I'm the oldest of three, my younger sisters being in middle school -it's kind of like pre-high school if you know about that kind of thing- and we live in a Medic Clinic that doubles our home," He began to explain, his eyes shifting to see if she looked confused. Surprised to see her patiently listening without any expression telling him she had no knowledge of such things, he went on without worry. "There used to be just my dad, myself, my sisters and my mom. That was...until the day my whole world shattered. The day I let my mom die."

"How?" She asked in as neutral of tone as she could.

"I...I saw a girl. A girl by the river," He quivered out, his memories starting to relive before his eyes with a far more vibrant potency than before. "She looked like she was about to fall and I wanted to keep her from doing that. I couldn't hear my mom's cries in time. It all happened so fast that I didn't know things were in motion. By the time I woke up...my mother...she-she was splayed over me, her body covered in blood and her life ended by a creature who lured me out. A Hollow."

Grinding his teeth together, his eyes twitched with a glare aimed at himself. His hands clenched so tightly he just now noticed pus and blood leaking between the cracks of his fingers. Not even bothering to look at Nelliel for a reaction, he vented aloud, "I was such an idiot! Why couldn't have I noticed something was off?! I was so stupid; that stupidity cost my mother her life!"

Heaving aloud, Ichigo felt his body shake with anger and self loathing. Even now, as a Substitute Shinigami, he couldn't find any means of gaining closure for himself. Grand Fisher disappeared, his mother's murderer, and he had yet to find him. He vowed to settle the score but was too wounded at the time to do anything about it. Still, all this time he got stronger and he had not let this part of himself go.

It wasn't until Nelliel's breath tickled the outer right ear and along his scalp that his breath hitched. Her hands slid over his bleeding hands, the moisture of her healing sweat mingling with the ebbing crimson escaping his tightly clenched hands. When she whispered, he could see through the periphery of his vision her eyes staring at him seriously.

"It's not your fault," She spoke matter-of-fact, watching him turn to look over his shoulder to look back at her with mingling disbelief and surprise. "Human children, as I've come to understand, are supposed to be easily swayed. It is what makes learning and growing a benefit of those in the living world. Just because a Hollow had targeted you doesn't make you at fault."

"But I should have thought better than to-"

"Are you questioning your instinct to help others? That's not the Ichigo I know," She corrected him smoothly, making him briefly shift his gaze away before her words anchored him back to her own. "A desire to help you was instilled within your being far sooner than you think. The fact you wanted to save a girl you had no knowledge of doesn't mean you're to blame for your mother's need to protect you. Just be thankful her sacrifice wasn't misused or in vain, otherwise the life she saved was meaningless. You've lived a life meant to help others, including your family's. Isn't that what you want?"

It took long while for Ichigo to think about what she said. In a way, she knew she was right. His desire to save or protect was linked back to his childhood, but only grew into a stronger need when his mother died. The fear of losing someone close to him was born that day he lost his greatest light in his life. He thought by confronting Grand Fisher after he gained the power to protect was given to him, but now in the arms of another who cared about him he realized he hadn't completely let it go.

"You're going to lose things in life, Ichigo. That's a part of living. You can't gain things without being hurt or watching others be hurt. People die, they get sick and they cry but it doesn't make you any less of a person for them experiencing that kind of pain," She soothingly told him, her fingers managing to snake between his now unclenching digits, now wrapping tightly with his own grip in a tender embrace. "I appreciate life more now than I ever did then. I felt hurt and suffering but I've grown to love life more than I ever have. My only regret is that Nnoitra threw his life away and that my hands had to be the ones to take him out of this world. Sin as well."

"You did what you had to. You can't blame yourself when someone comes for you with malicious intent," Ichigo reassured her in a somber tone, realizing his own words holding relevance to himself. "Even if you did something regrettable, you shouldn't let that weigh you down. You have to keep moving forward and let the experience make you stronger for it."

"Hm," She mumbled, leaning her face against his, causing it to heat up at the skin contact but didn't move away. "Thank you for saying that. I hope you can learn to let go of your own pain so you can truly become stronger."

"Heh, if you keep talking like that to me, then we might be seen as a couple," He joked with a laugh.

"What's a couple?" She asked, suddenly blinking a few times at the thought.

"Ah! Well," The Substitute began with a stutter, trying to think of a way to change topics. Remembering something that was kind of vital, he turned to look at her with a sheepish grin. "Can we put that topic on hold for a sec! There's something about Hollow abilities I'd like to test out."

Huffing at having the question ignored, Nelliel released him from her touch causing him to almost fall over. After redressing herself, she grasped what remained of his top she held onto his kosode that had very little left other than half of its sleeves what was left was tattered with burns and shredded pieces. Keeping it in her grip she turned to look at the now standing Ichigo with a smile, "What do you wish to know?"

"Uh, Ceros to be exact!" Ichigo raised a hand up, knowing this was an ability he just recently began to use. Holding out a hand towards her, he emphasized the issue as plainly as he could. "I've been using them ever since I fought Ulquiorra the first time around. While I think I got the whole generation and firing aspect down, they don't seem to be...uh...that good."

"Well, if you're not skilled in using a Cero you're not going to be able to use it to its maximum yield," She responded with a nod, knowing a great deal about the Hollow and respectively Arrancar technique. Knowing little about Visoreds, she knew that it had to be a special ability Ichigo must have when donning a mask. Raising a hand up, she created a golf ball sized orb of Reishi in the color of rosy pink. "A Cero is the perfection of charging your Reiatsu into a Reishi spherical shape and then making sure its quality is of a high extent instead of making it simply just large. Otherwise, there's no difference between an Arrancar's Cero to a Menos' Cero."

"Ah, so that's why that Cero wasn't that strong," Ichigo thought out loud, cupping his chin as he pondered his first encounter with a Cero. The Menos Grande he fought when he first had obtained Shinigami powers had a crazy strong beam but he realized it was far too large and wide to be like the Cero that Grimmjow, Ulquiorra or even Nelliel used. Each of them had varying colors but none of them seemed to be close to the size of a Menos' Cero. His own Cero wasn't as large but he could tell something was off. "Maybe I'm not charging it properly? Opponents seem to brush them off pretty easily."

"Why don't you show me?" Nelliel asked with a bright smile.

"Ah, s-sure," Ichigo nodded, feeling his cheeks warm up a bit as his body was still moist with her sweat that had rubbed over him. Even her smile was making him feel a bit jittery and he didn't want to dwell on it. Turning around, he raised a hand to concentrate his Hollow Reiryoku over his face.

With a ripping gesture, the Reiatsu of black with burgundy outlined hue created a white mask. While he didn't see it, Nelliel could tell that the mask's appearance was different in coloring. While still white red lines seem to be running from the top over the eye slits to the set of exterior teeth.

"_Wasn't it a set of lines on the left side of the mask?_" Nel queried inwardly as she saw a crimson glow emerge from his hand. While the red overcast colored the background, Ichigo raised his while hand up, practically unseen in the wide sphere that had encompassed his wrist. Blinking at the unwieldy look of the Cero charge, she leaped to Ichigo's side and pulled his back to her chest and wrapped her hand over his wrist one more.

"_**N**_-_**Nelliel?!**_" Ichigo stuttered in his hollowfied pitch.

"Calm down, Ichigo," She whispered in his ear, making his skin flush underneath the mask brightly. For once he was glad his real visage was incapable of being seen at this point. "You're wasting too much Reishi doing it like that. It might initially be powerful on a kickback side, but it won't harm a high level opponent. Breathe deeply and lower your Reishi projection."

"_For some reason I feel like this is the cannon ball exercise again_," Ichigo thought as he tried his best to lower his power in his hand. He knew it was vastly different harnessing it through his Zanpakutō as it helped regulate the control over his Reiatsu that it absorbed. But with his own hand, unless he did a quick burst, he was incredibly awkward with controlling it. Taking her words under advisement he began to slow his breath and gradually shrunk the aura of Reishi enveloping his hand.

"That's it, you're doing good, Ichigo," She encouraged, watching it soon come into the exact area of his palm. "Now, keep it this size and keep priming it."

"_**Okay**_," The Substitute Shinigami replied, his voice and his form feeling more confident than before. He almost didn't know he was completely in the embrace of someone who slid her skin around his own. Shaking his head slightly to banish those thoughts, he refocused his concentration. The sensation was almost like holding a molten ball of slag, his own Hollowfied senses giving him an indication he could feel the heat coming off his own energy sphere. But without the pain of holding such a projectile, he knew it was about as much a part of him as Zangetsu was. Closing his eyes, he reopened them as he shouted out loud. "_**Here it goes. CERO!**_"

Before Nelliel could object, Ichigo unleashed his Cero. Firing off like a spiraling crimson beam that glistened of white at its epicenter that bled off a piercing red outwards. Scorching the sands it blasted through dune after dune before hitting a higher elevated part of the desert far away. The result came as an enormous explosion that enveloped the distance, creating a shockwave that imitated a seismic wind that rivulets through the air. The consequence, however, was that Ichigo was knocked off his own feet and was forcing Nelliel to be kicked back by the kinetic force that struck him.

Twisting in the air, the Arrancar barely assisted in Ichigo's fall, landing in a sideways crouch. Turning to see Ichigo was in her arms, much like how she rescued him from Nnoitra the first time, she couldn't help but smile at the masked Shinigami. He blinked as she again thought to compliment with a soft voice, "Well, I think you got the Cero problem solved. Just keep control and you can create a far stronger attack."

"Y-Yeah," He uttered normally, his mask unfurling to show his blushing face. Even as the echo of the explosion died down from the distance, he couldn't help be entranced by closeness, the feel and the intimacy between the two of them at this moment. Thinking back to her question, he thought to pay her back by answering her as reasonably as he could. "A couple. You wanted to know what that was?"

"Yes," She replied with a whisper, once again eliciting a nervous reaction from him.

"It's, uh, when two people are close romantically and emotionally," He explained his eyes unable to leave hers by an unknown power within him.

"So," Nelliel suggested with a soft smile as she slid around him, her face close to his as their eyes met and a flush growing around her own face indicated what she felt. "If I happened to feel...romantically...close to you, then it'd be alright to assume you feel the same with me?"

"_Dammit, Sasakibe! I blame you for this!_" He inwardly swore, now feeling himself backed into a corner. Realizing there was no one around that he could sense he felt no reason to simply make excuses. Lamely, he nodded his head in response, getting a positive reaction out of Nelliel through the appearance of a growing smile.

"Then," She leaned forward, her parted lips mouthing her words as she gained proximity to him. "You wouldn't mind if I had my first kiss with you?"

"_What is going on?! I mean, I like her and I think she's a great girl -body and mind- but is this the right to-?_" Ichigo wouldn't find time to finish his train of thought. With his eyes closed he suddenly felt an overwhelming amount of relief follow the sense of euphoric pleasure that came with Nelliel's mouth covering his own. It was a simple kiss, but to him it lit his entire being on fire within. His injuries might have been nonexistent at this point cause he was too loss in the moment to care.

"_Huh...why was I so afraid of this? That wasn't so bad_," He thought as his lips finally parted from hers, both of their expressions revealing just how taken aback by what they felt.

"I...uh," Ichigo began to mouth out dumbly.

"Wow," Nel breathed out, reaching up to touch her lips with a smile. "That was...amazing."

"Uh yeah," He agreed with a hesitant smile.

"Can we do that again?" She asked as she leaned forward, her bare breasts mashing into his own healed yet equally as unclothed torso.

"Waitshoudln'twe-MPH?!" The young man was about to protest until her lips melded into his own for a deeper kiss. This time he simply resigned with his eyes closed, leaning into her form with his embracing her. At this moment, he didn't care who found them just that he met someone he respected and cared for who felt the same about him.

"Pardon me, Ichigo Kurosaki," A haunting voice interrupted their kiss, causing both's blood to go cold as their lips left with a palpably loud smack. "But I think you're going to find now isn't the time to let your guard down."

With both pairs of eyes turning to look, Ichigo's breath hitched while Nelliel's mouth dropped open. There, in the flesh, was none other than the current Cuatro Espada, whose clothes were in slight tatters thanks to his brief scuffle with both Ichigo and Grimmjow. His wounds, however, were nowhere to be seen unlike before. Eyes filled with a rare venom that overpowered his composure showed the only form of raw emotion his still face could make.

Following an ignition of Reiatsu coming off his body in a titanic wave of friction, the sand itself dipped down and then blew back from his feet in tidal waves. Sending a scrambling Ichigo and a tumbling Nel backwards, Ulquiorra casually pointed his index finger at the body of sand he caused to flow backward. A whirring sound of a Cero being primed was in sync with the turquoise light that gleamed around the compressed sphere.

The wordless shot was fired, and the Substitute Shinigami tried his best to find footing in the backward rolling wave of sand. But instead of finding the power of Ulquiorra's Reishi hitting him directly, a now fully clothed Nel -who had quickly grabbed thrown his top back to his hands in the confusion- stretched out her hand to catch the blast. Following a cyclonic suction, the Arrancar unleashed a follow-up rosy hued Cero that made the Esapada employ Sonido to evade the onslaught of pyrotechnic display.

Appearing above Ichigo and the descending wave of sand, his hand swiped down to chop his unsuspecting cranium. But once again, he was intercepted by the other Arrancar's swiveling heel, causing a quaking decompression in the air between them. As the Substitute Shinigami cursed at being sent sprawling flat into the ground below, a pair of swords were heard drawn followed by a loud clash that created a vibrant display of pink and green Reiatsu bodies struggling against each other.

"It pains me to see a former comrade of mine pine for such human trash," Ulquiorra murmured as his blade ground against Nelliel's. "You can always walk away, Tres. I'm sure Lord Aizen could forgive you if you swear allegiance now-"

"I've seen what service to Aizen does to the best of us. I'm not about to surrender my will to him now, not when I've found something precious to me worth protecting," She declared in an even tone almost akin to Ulquiorra's as her eyes locked onto his past the waves of alight Reishi permeating between the two. "Worth dying for!"

"I see," Ulquiorra intoned, pulling back just long enough to swing a towards her left cheek. When she pulled back, he turned the lock on his sword to knock her off balance, twisting his body around to use his other heel to strike her in the back. When she crashed to the ground, he landed gracefully in front of her rising form, his sword held aloft as Hueco Mundo's starless night gave an eerie overcast onto the right hand Arrancar of Aizen's. "Then I'll make sure you die together, Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck."

* * *

**Chapter 11 - Strength of the Heart**

* * *

"...and that's how my genius handled this situation," Mayuri finished regaling Captain Kuchiki among the other officers in his presence.

"I fail to see how that has any relevance to the situation at hand, Captain Kurotsuchi," Byakuya coolly commented as he noticed the bound Espada Octava and his fetal positioned Fracción. To him, he saw the prior had a large swollen bruise covering most of his face while the other sported light lacerations and bruises of his own. The latter seemed more in a psychologically withdrawn state, unable to even look anyone in the eye as his gaze focused on nothing with a disturbing intention.

"If you paid attention, Captain Kuchiki, you would have known that already," The R&amp;D Head exasperated his fellow Shinigami's title with a roll of his eyes. Gesturing to them, he drawled out in an impatient tone. "That Espada is what's supposed to amount to Aizen's scientific genius. I have his lab under custody and being searched by Nemu. Whatever was going on in there birthed that Mod Arrancar that's curled up in a ball over there, thanks to a dose of my Amnesia Solution. He'll regain his memories over time, but right now he's as harmless as a small child that he embodies."

"So you're saying you have them properly detained. Sounds adequate," He replied in a curt tone, aligning his gaze to see a group of injured combatants huddled under the human girl's phenomena rejection barrier. All hints of abnormal effects from the drugs Renji Abarai took, his and the others' injuries -including the two mutilated Arrancars- were being undone. All except Nemu, who was busy scouring through Szayel's lab, were present before them.

That is, except for the notably absent Lieutenant Sasakibe they haven't seen during their swift trek here. On top of that he was inwardly anxious that Rukia had gone missing as well. Other than blood, tattered clothes and scorched sands, there wasn't a sign of her or the Lieutenant.

"If that's all, then I shall be busy recovering what useful things I can salvage from this poor excuse of a scientist underground," Mayuri waved dismissively, trotting off towards the hole nearby that Nemu had carved neatly through the hardened pockets of sand. "Keep an eye on those two would you?"

Silently, Byakuya turned to look at Szayel and Crisol. To him he could feel their reserves of Reiryoku had run low, but could still put up resistance if they had the will. The mad scientist looked far more relaxed with a hint of a wry smile donned behind the swollen state of his visage. For this reason, the Captain walked closer till his shadow encroached over his person, cast by the lunar rays of Hueco Mundo's sole source of light.

"Hm? A Shinigami? No, a Captain," Szayel murmured aloud as he noticed the hawk's gaze that Byakuya fixated upon him. For some reason it made his smile even more sly than before. "I have nothing to say to you, but it seems you have something on your mind. By all means, speak up and I might feel like answering."

"You seem quite candid for someone who suffered a loss," The Captain curtly commented, all the while narrowing his eyes specifically at the collar wrapped around the Espada's neck. He recognized it as a Reishi dampener, similar to the kinds that prisoners wear in the Seireitei prior to execution. But instead of a red color, this one was black with a white skull emblem inscribed on its center, the mark associated most often with the Gotei 13's operations' special equipment. "Care to elaborate on things you're keeping close to the chest?"

"Oh, how tempting," The Scientist drawled out with a cruel grin that made his captor's gaze grow sharper. "I think I remember a Lieutenant -what was his name?- mention that as well. He wanted to know what I know. But that's no fun to ruin the surprise is it. I guess I can let you in on a little peek into the gift wrapping, as it were?"

"My patience is waning, Arrancar," Byakuya raised his stern toned voice, showing how much he didn't like being played with.

"Were you looking for a young Shinigami by the name of," He drew out, his smile becoming thin and his eyes becoming half lidded as he finished in a guttural manner. "Rukia Kuchiki?"

The sound of the blade couldn't even be heard before the feeling of its edge bit into the flesh of the Espada. Despite the swift movement that seemed to be unseen before the Arrancar's eyes, his pleased expression hadn't wavered when the Captain motioned. In fact, he chuckled as the edge of the sword made the side of his face bleed down his jaw.

"What do you know?" He inquired in a surprising bout of composure. "Speak out of turn, and I might feel inclined to make this interrogation much more painful than a nick on the cheek."

"Scary!~" He exclaimed with a loud laugh. "I guess I shouldn't let me guard down around you, Captain."

A distant explosion that sounded like thunder caught the notice of everyone present. The flicker of Reiatsu was similar to Ichigo's and produced a sizable plume of smoke kindled by a crimson glow. But as soon as it happened, it died down, leaving everyone present all the more perplexed.

"What was that?!" Kiyone cried out in unison with Sentarō.

"It felt like Kurosaki," Uryū groaned, finding himself crouched with everyone else within the golden dome that Orihime had constructed. His wounds and fatigue were undone the quickest as he suffered the least damage. Nemu had declined the offer since she commented that her own injuries are recovered quickly on her own. The Officers were already restored by her but the Arrancars suffered the most damage along with Renji and Aaron-Chad. While they journeyed on to find them Nelliel offered to stay and protect him while restoring his own injuries. "What is he thinking using a blast like that? Is he wanting to be found or is he goofing off?"

"Hey, maybe Ichigo is just training his Hollow powers?" Renji suggested, letting out a sigh as the last of his injuries were undone.

"If he did, then that's just like him to," The Quincy grunted, raising a hand to massage the bridge of his nose. "Can't he do that without setting up a flare with his Reiatsu? His control is so awful I can feel him from here!"

"All of the Espada have been defeated, so I don't think it matters one way or the oth-" Nanao began to reassure him until they heard a follow-up sound. This time it created a distant roar that rose two distinct signatures; in the forms of both Nelliel and another only a few could recognize.

"You were saying?" Uryū asked dryly at Nanao.

"Oh no! Mistress Nelliel!" Dondochakka cried out, his body practically revived back to health from the point of the horrid torture wrought on him.

"W-We have to help her!" Pesche added, both of them standing up at once. Unfortunately, with the barrier still up, their heads hit the dome's top and were shocked back onto their faces. "Ow..."

"You two wouldn't be much help anyways," Renji added with a blunt tone.

"B-But-"

"He's right," Szayel chuckled out, causing all in attendance to glance at him, Byakuya's sword still held against his bleeding face. "That's Cuatro Espada, Ulquiorra Cifer. He's far beyond any Arrancar in Lord Aizen's Army that you've faced thus far. He'll crush you all, and leave nothing behind. But, I rather not get in his bad side by leaving you all to him so..."

The sound of shattering restraints followed by hands clapping caused a sonic wave of exploding pressure knocking the Captain back. While everyone felt an unsuspecting ring in their ears and a blast of sand filled wind, Byakuya would find his back running into a spiraling tendril that constricted him from the wrist and waist up to his shoulders.

"CAPTAIN!" Renji cried out as everyone went into a state of alertness.

"Hahahahahahahahaha!" The Espada laughed out loud, standing to full height as the rest of his tentacle was visible as it emerged from the sand. "Did you all believe I was beaten? Fools! I bid my time as I weakened these pathetic restraints. On myself, and my beautiful Crisol."

With a snap of his left fingers by his hips, the restraints popped off the Mod Arrancar's own wrists. His eyes opened wide and his body rolled to the side, casting a shocked stare at Szayel. One that made his master blink curiously at him. It'd be answered by very confused words echoing in his mind.

"**Who are you**?"

"Tch, he still doesn't have his full cognitive functions yet," He hissed, turning to look away with disgust at his still immobile captive. His smile returned as he saw no one had yet made a move yet with Byakuya in his grasp. "No matter. I have my hostage and I can easily deal with the lot of you at my leisur-"

"**Scatter, Senbonzakura**."

Following Byakuya's verbal release of his Zanpakutō a shimmering wave of blossom hued razors swam through the air in a twister dance around his bound person. In seconds, the tendril was cut apart in a shower of blood and tissue. Ushering a cry of surprise from the Arrancar at having not knowing the weapon could be activated without movement.

"You showed your hand too soon, Espada," The Captain intoned as he regained his footing while the other Arrancar stepped back with apprehension. "I'll find out the information I seek on my own. I don't see the benefit of having someone so untrustworthy for a prisoner. Disposing you is the wisest course of action now."

"Like I would let you!" Szayel madly shouted, waving a hand towards his other enemies. Within a few moments, a scarlet ebbing black dyed orb of whirring energy formed around the center of his palm. Without looking away from Byakuya, he shouted out loud the name of his inevitable attack. "**Cero Oscuras!**"

Yet, as the man shouted with words spewing from his mouth, a whistling came through the air before a hissing crunch was heard. The Cero's premature existence was cut short as Byakuya's Senbonzakura severed his arm in a blood soaked swarm, just in time for the Quincy's Heilig Pfeil struck the Arrancar's temple. With his eyes open wide with shock and his mouth agape, the Espada fell back in a bloodied heap, unmoving and still.

"That was for earlier, you bastard," Uryū growled as he lowered his bow, promptly deactivating it with a simple gesture.

"Damn, kinda wish I got a shot in," Renji murmured to himself with a scratch to the side of his head. "But nice shot."

"Now the only question," The Quincy began to intone as the Officers took steps forward to rally behind the Captain, only furthering the Mod Arrancar's visible fright. "What are we going to do about his petri dish experiment?"

"**Stay away!**" Crisol telepathically shouted, his body ejecting a wave of palpable Reiatsu that was enough to kick up the sand and force the Shinigami to raise arms to defend themselves. The boy's own limbs raised up in a trembling fashion, eyes widened with terror and confusion, he cried out loud. "**I don't know you...or who I am...but keep away!**"

"Damn, it looks like he isn't going to budge," Sentarō deduced as the wave of spiritual pressure continued to beat on his skin and flapping uniform.

"What should we do?" Kiyone asked with a few turns of her head.

"We terminate him," Nanao suggested coldly.

"I-Isn't that a bit extreme?" Momo asked with a shiver, wondering if someone of such incredible power could be beaten so easily. Let alone she felt guilty seeing such a small boy, even as an Arrancar, be taken down like any ordinary Hollow. She felt bad for it as contradictory as that seemed to her own role as a Shinigami.

"She's right," Byakuya answered stoically, the only one of them unflinching in the face of such power. With his Shikai returning into the form of a solid, sealed blade in his grip he took a few steps towards the trembling Arrancar. Watching him look up in fright with unmoved callousness, he adjusted his sword angle so that he could make a precise thrust through a vital point. "Killing him is the only thing we should do. He's too dangerous to be left unchecked."

"B-But-"

"**NO! PLEASE STAY BACK**!" Crisol shouted through their minds, his body shaking as Byakuya drew closer. To him the silhouette of the man looked more monstrous than anything. Seeing him casually kill the man who freed him but also sneer at him imbued a sense of apprehension around such a man. He didn't know what he was, but even as he told him to stay back he was ignored and had a weapon drawn. While he had none to rely upon as he knew it, he closed his eyes and repeated in a trembling psychic tone. "**I-I'M WARNING YOU**-"

"WHAT IS ALL THIS RACKET ABOUT?!"

Crisol stopped dead in his tracks when he heard that voice. With his Reiatsu ceasing to be vented from his being, he turned around to look to his right at a hole that had been meticulously carved within the sand. There a man with a painted face and a cobra's motif headdress came into view ith a uniform not unlike the one who intended to kill him. When his eyes met his, both with confusion and a slight ample amount of fear he had no recollection about, the Shinigami went from livid to annoyed.

"Go back down your hole, Captain Kurotsuchi," Byakuya commanded firmly, his eyes carrying over to glare at him as he clicked the handle of his sword visibly to subtly supplant his authority. "Your sad excuse of Reishi restraints were undone by the Espada. We had to deal with him accordingly and now I'm going to kill his creation. Do you have a problem with tha-"

"Obviously!" Mayuri yelled out in a near shrill tone, his arms waving out with an exasperated manner. "You have NO right to tamper with MY test subjects and MY specimens. I wanted to dissect them while they were alive, not when they are dead! Now what what am I supposed to do with his deteriorating carcass?!"

"Forgive me if I don't have the same amount of care to your research as you do for our duty here," Captain Kuchiki sarcastically apologized while maintaining the coldness in his voice.

"MY duty is to gather things of WORTH here, Captain Kuchiki! If you'd take a few moments to look out of your small box you call a brain, I'll have you know-!"

"**U-Um**," Crisol nervously interrupted, his eyes shifting slightly away but tried to maintain a stare at Mayuri whom now looked at him with a curious light. Seeing that he wasn't disgusted right away, he grasped one arm and muttered through his telepathic voice. "**I-I don't mean to interrupt...but...do I know you**?"

It only took a few seconds for Mayuri to recall what he had done to the boy. While it was surprising to see the boy moving and nary a scratch from all of his culminated injuries from his battle, it wasn't nearly as peculiar as him recalling the Shinigami researcher if only vaguely. Smiling widely so that his golden plated teeth were on display, he waved his arms out in a beckoning manner as he walked slowly towards him.

"Yes, you should. After all, you're my beloved possession after all," He declared with a silver tongued voice that sounded inviting to the Arrancar boy but those who knew him felt shivers run up and down their spines. All of course except the reserved Captain Kuchiki.

"**Possession**?" He asked with a tilt of his head, not sure if he knew the meaning to that word.

"Indeed!" He raised a hand dramatically, swinging it around to point at the bleeding dead corpse of the late Espada. "He created you, misused you and put you through so much pain. But, through his death, you were freed from his treacherous unintelligent grasp and into my benevolent arms. For as someone who can truly appreciate your potential and skill you surely would like to feel belonged with someone who'd keep your best interests at heart."

Crisol seemed to blink slowly, his gaze turning from the dead man who looked at him with disgust and the one who opened his arms to him. Hearing his words they all made sense in a way. While things were still unclear in his head, something in him said that it'd be much safer to be beside him. A quick glance at the other man's drawn sword revealed to him which was the better route.

"**Okay. I'll trust you**," Crisol murmured within the pleased scientist's mind, walking over to him. Much to most's disgust, he leaned into the embrace of the Captain, witnessing his twisted grin of victory. Even more so as he whispered aloud in a way that they all could hear. "**Just please keep me safe**."

"Of course! I keep all of my possessions quite secure and well guarded," He added with a pat to his back. Ushering him to walk with him back down the hole Nemu carved, he looked over at Byakuya with a taunting smile as he ferreted his new catch down unseen in the darkness below.

Sighing aloud, the said Captain sheathed his sword in a fluid motion, turning on his heels with his back facing the distant thunders of pressures colliding with each other. While he past by the officers who gave him a wide berth, Nanao was the only one who kept a vivid stare towards the horizon. This was discouraged when Byakuya chose to give them their next orders.

"We need to find Rukia and Lieutenant Sasakibe at once," He announced to the Shinigami present, his back to all of them concealing the hint of worry etched into his brows. The words of the late Espada echoed in his mind, making him doubt of his adopted sibling's safety. Shaking it off, he turned his head to look at them with a cool glance. "Once we find them, we'll find a way to return to the World of the Living and assist in combating Aizen's army."

"Understood, Captain," Nanao responded forthright, while the others silently nodded their heads to show their compliance to the order.

"Very well," Byakuya replied with satisfaction, turning to look at Renji whom stood shoulder to shoulder with Uryū. After a bout of silence crossed between them, he closed his eyes and began walking beside him. He only passed on a few words as his Lieutenant turned to follow his retreating form. "Do as you wish, Lieutenant. Join us when you've concluded any personal matters involving the Substitute Shinigami and his allies."

"Yessir!" He replied stoutly, not showing any surprise or emotion slip out to lose this chance. He wanted to see what this other Espada he was feeling was capable of, as well as try to keep Ichigo from getting himself killed. He'd never let him live that down if that ended up happening.

With the Officers in Byakuya's company, they left in a bout of Shunpo, leaving only a small trace of movement that fluttered in the wind with barely a sound left behind. This all but left them on their own with Nelliel's Fracción and the other two humans with Renji. Then Uryū thought to speak up as he looked around his shoulder, tapping Renji as he noticed something odd.

"Here's a dumb question I'd expect Ichigo to ask," Uryū began, his dryness filtering his words enough to make Renji force a suppression to his chuckles. "But where's Orihime?"

At that moment, the Lieutenant gasped. The golden dome was gone and the Arrancar themselves seemed just as surprised. Stomping over to Pesche and Dondochakka, he planted a few punches on their heads, crying out to them, "What the Hell were you doing?! Taking a nap?! Where did the girl go?!"

"W-We saw her take off above your heads," Pesche answered with a wince, rubbing his head as it comically swelled. "But we didn't know what to do with that scary Captain around!"

"Please don't hit us again!" Dondochakka wept exaggeratedly.

"Oh just shut up," Renji growled, turning around to stare neutrally at Uryū. "She went to see Ichigo, regardless of that intense fight we're feeling from here."

"That's just like her, too," He grumbled, turning around to cast his gaze in the direction he knew she'd be at. "Then let's not waste anytime. Let's go after her."

* * *

Nelliel was surprised.

While it had been years since her departure, Ulquiorra's form and posture had evolved since the last time she saw him. The familiar one-handed technique with one hand resting at his side or in one pocket of his uniform, the acrobatic twirls and rapid use of Sonido in short bursts, even the resolve to not reveal emotion while in the heat of battle. It felt like a perfected variant of her own style of combat, one with a resolute defense and fluid aggressive counteroffensive that could appear at any given moment.

So fixated on the nostalgia that she almost didn't notice how his fist jutted out with the sword, shooting off a shrieking Bala that she narrowly deflected with the flat of her blade. The kickback from the shockwave was enough to send her aerial frame to skid back a good distance from the casually striding Espada. Panting as subtly as she could, she didn't want to know that their exchange -however brief- was starting to take a toll on her.

But, casting a gaze at a desperately glaring Ichigo whom was on the rise of a nearby dune of sand made her realize she couldn't worry about her own well being. She had something worth fighting for. And as she told Ulquiorra, something worth giving up her life.

"You seem lost in thought, Tres," Ulquiorra commented as he stoically stared at her strained expression past the mask she donned to hide her thoughts; a mask not so well made if he could see through it. "Are you still dwelling on the past with Lord Aizen's army? Do you regret your rebellion?"

"I rebelled against no one," She coolly replied, taking a strong standing posture with her sword held parallel to her ankle. "I was betrayed by a comrade and left to die alone with no one but my Fracción, no, my friends to care for me. I would have perished long ago if he took their lives."

"Ah yes. I do remember Lord Aizen stating your Aspect of Death was _Love, _after all," He intoned with a verbal drawl, almost at the brink of rolling his eyes. "We, heartless beings that Hollows are, shouldn't feel such a petty and useless attachment. That emotion very much befits the race of Shinigami."

"But you have the body of a Shinigami too, don't you?" She asked rhetorically, her gaze growing harder as his lip curled slightly at that statement. "Don't you know what it means to feel? Even after all this time, have you not found a meaning other than emptiness?"

"I am Nihilism. There is nothing for me to _feel_, as you put it," He explained in a muted voice, his steps finally taking him closer to his target. "For example, as I could tell you that I am disappointed that despite the time we shared and your service for Lord Aizen is now for naught, but I can only imitate it. Humans, Pluses and even Shinigami may feel but as a Hollow I cannot. Even with the body that possesses such senses I cannot understand what you'd understand as a _Heart_. I am what a Hollow really is. Empty, null and void of anything related to what many call the _Feelings from the Heart _as that insufferable woman put it."

"_Woman? Is he talking about Ichigo's friend, Orihime?_" Nelliel thought with a few confused blinks. What was the way that made her old friend twitch and sounding rather aggravated that annoyed...or rather, unnerved him? The fact of the matter is that she saw more emotion on his body than he ever revealed in the years she was an Espada while mentoring him in his youth as an Arrancar.

But through her observation of his bodily emotions, his movements happened to slip past an unfocused Pesquisa. A thrust aiming for her chest was narrowly redirected to nick her shoulder. During the spasm of pain he casually lifted his right leg to connect with her lower left abdomen, creating a loud expulsion of air to perforate their surroundings. As her body bowed with the force of his kick she grasped his extended ankle, using the momentum of his attack to swing around and perform a toed kick into his left jaw. Sprawling around in the air to land on three of all fours, she watched him smash into a dune face and cause the particles to scatter as he pierced it out the back.

Leaping forward with a remarkably timed Sonido, her sword slashed for his head as she was to his back. A loud clang of two blades causing enough friction to produce a gout of Reishi lightning between their weapons, creating a crevice within the sands they were flying by. All done without turning his head, Ulquiorra seemed to evaporate in front of Nelliel's eyes, reappearing directly in her soaring path to land a knee kick into her forehead. Such concussive force that lanced through the air it reversed the velocity to send her lurching back. Yet, even then she managed to swing a Bala infused punch into his solar plexus, causing him to fly back at a screaming crash just as she did.

Grinding through the sand with her back she grimaced at the pain as fresh blood began to fly out from the gash created by his knee cap. Halting her backward momentum with a expelling wave of her own Reiatsu, she witnessed Ulquiorra appearing as a downward phantom of black in the opaqued overcast the hanging moon created on him. A single swing downward and the white earth was obliterated in a flash of turquoise, creating a reverberating gale force wind that blew apart most of the higher elevated mounds of grained earth.

Turning from his crouched posture to cross blades with a two-handed slash of Nelliel's, creating once again a powerful friction between the two. With a look of tension spread across her normally unmoved brows, Ulquiorra looked at his peer with nothing but a blank stare of disappointment. No matter how much she pushed him he gained a slow incline till he stood eye to eye with her, his hand only slightly twitching in the struggle of dominance against his former senior ranked Espada.

"You forgone your style for a powerful stroke. Futile, if it wasn't already apparent your borrowed power is about to expire," The Cuatro Espada stated, causing a look of surprise to flash across her face. "Sadly, that choice just cost you this fight."

Unrealizing what he meant until a turquoise glow in the wake of a high pitched whine indicated what was going on. From the point of his free hand's index finger jabbing straight at her solar plexus, the entirety of the Reishi wave overlapped her being. As steam emanated from the fingertip and the sands that the energy wave carved into he saw a impact crater in which he saw from the curdling smoke a rising Nelliel. She was covered in burns and reduced to wearing her old shredded green garments, the uniform she once donned now gone as scuffs and burns were shown across her form.

"It seems you used the last of your Reiryoku that you stole to create a buffer, a mock shield of Reiatsu to dampen the blow of my Cero. As expected of some one of your talents in Reishi control," Ulquiorra stated as he tread closer, his eyes unmoved as the look of her heavily panting and sweating visage did nothing to slow him. "Even if you were at full strength, as you were before or even back then, you couldn't hope to challenge me. The rank of Tres belongs to another far stronger than I am. I'm sure you know of the one I speak of."

"Even still," Nelliel spoke resolutely, contrary to her trembling and beaten frame. With a stubborn gaze locking onto his emotionless slits, she cried out with a raised sword. "I'm prepared to fight to the bitter end! It's why I'm here, defying him, fighting you. It is the only reason I need to pick my sword up for someone else I care for!"

"And that is why you will die, Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck," The Fourth Espada declared uncaring, stepping forward enough to invade her space past her guard. Thrusting up towards her throat he whispered out loud. "Farewell."

A faint sound followed by a tearing of air pressure caught the Arrancar's attention a moment before the tip touched her neck. Twisting his hips and backwards leg in a sweeping gesture, his blade came into contact with what he could tell was a hilt-less blade of bleak hue of shadows. When it crashed into the projectile, an explosive recoil happened enough to send him reeling back on his heels, unintentionally crashing into Nelliel by the chest. While she spun around and landed unceremoniously onto her rear flank, he skid to a halt ten meters away, a look of dull realization as to who it was.

"You," Ulquiorra pointedly stared at the distant Ichigo, his arm outstretched and a faraway grimace of failure was noticed by his gaze. "You attacked me with my back turned. How uncharacteristic of you. But, judging my your appearance, your Reiryoku is still spent from an earlier fight. If that's the case-"

In a sudden flourish of movement, Nelliel's mouth opened to shout for the Substitute to evade. But as the words began to crawl out of her throat, her voice cracked. Even she could see his blade thrust through his middle, completely bypassing the wearied Shinigami's senses and using maximum prejudice to deal with him.

"-I'll deal with you now before you become a reoccurring headache," He declared with a slash, cutting outward from his piercing position his blade had. With a shower of blood caking the sand, Ichigo growled with blood crawling up his throat, causing him to cough. Turning around with a roar, his wounded chest was struck by a well placed kick, convulsively spearing him a few meters away from Nelliel with a thunderous crash.

Buried in a hole, Ichigo struggled to get out but felt himself wedged in tight with the bloodstained sand. Cursing at his own strength deprived state, he looked up in horror as Ulquiorra wasted no time in presenting himself in front of the Shinigami. Raising a sword up over his head, he spoke in a sincere manner, "Be honored that I considered you a threat, worthy of my sword, Ichigo Kurosaki."

"U-U-Ulquiorra-!" Ichigo stuttered out, trying to will himself to rise and fight back. But in the instant his arm was on the verge of moving he noticed Nelliel's bruised and injured frame whizzing in front of him. Her body splayed in a way that'd cover him completely, her sword abandoned during her crash into the attacking Arrancar, just stretched her arms out in an X posture in hopes of at least slowing his blade. The very sight of it reminded him as a child, the lifeless blood soaked body of his mother who died protecting him; then the memory of her smile, her words and the kiss they shared. Eyes dilated to the size of pins and his mind could only scream in protest at the harsh reality that was befalling him. He was going to lose someone he loved right before his eyes again, and he could only watch it happen. One thought was let out as the cool steel swung towards her body instead of his own. "_NO!_ _NOT HER! DON'T KILL HER! ULQUIORRA!_"

When his arm came down, all that was felt was a dramatic whoosh of air. No sound of lacerating flesh, no cry of injury and no movement made immediately after. The only thing that seemed to catch everyone's notice as the Cuatro Espada's shock-ridden eyes saw nothing but a stump of a blade. A soft plop was heard to his left, the sight of his blade's main body seen where it should have been on the sword. Turning around, his gaze met someone that he least expected yet somehow kept seeing at every turn.

"Orihime Inoue," He whispered with an annoyed growl, raising back to full height as Nel and Ichigo turn to look with both wonderment and welcome surprise. The sight of the living hairpin Tsubaki moved around at near unseen speeds before landing promptly on her shoulder, the other spirits seeming to have created a triangular barrier that she used as a glider of sorts to reach them. Panting more out of worry than exertion, she stood up as the barrier leveled with the sand and her feet carried her towards the three of them.

"O-Orihime?!" Ichigo let out a gasp, still beside himself at the near death experience that he had with his Arrancar adversary. That and how close he lost someone so important to him right in front of his eyes again. Then the spasm of pain came back as he coughed up more blood, his body leaning back into the pit he was pinned in. "D-Dammit!"

"I'm here!" She cried out, wordlessly commanding her Shun Shun Rikka spirits to fly over around both Ichigo and Nelliel. Creating the barrier with a momentary, "I Reject," chant the glittering golden shield soon erected over them and began denying the phenomena that was their injuries and loss of strength. Stopping short of standing beside the two, she saw Ulquiorra take a few steps to stand between her and the two.

Launching his foot against the shield, he watched with surprise as he was jolted back with a spasm of pain running up and down his leg. Grimacing only slightly, he looked up at her and glanced at his broken sword then down to his injured foot. Sighing, he resumed his mute visage as he conversed, "I shouldn't be surprised, yet I find myself being just that. It wasn't but days ago that Yammy and I encountered you. He was able to swat your spirit with one hand and then smashed your barrier as if it was tissue paper. Now, it hurts when I strike it and you broke my sword faster than my eyes could follow. Who gave you this power? Where did it come from?"

For awhile, Orihime couldn't answer him. She herself didn't understand how strong she was or how unbelievably stronger she felt herself becoming. Lilynette's actions and words spurred her own more than she thought possible. Yet, she knew, it was something more meaningful and deeper than simply her snapping or just stumbling upon it. It was always there, but for the first time, she wasn't getting it through help but rather helping herself.

"Someone told me that I wasn't believing in myself. That I listened to others too easily and was swaying my perspective of my powers. I thought I needed to be saved or rescued by someone I loved," She said seriously, her eyes drawn to a flabbergasted Ichigo. "Then I realized, that love wasn't true. By sacrificing myself I wasn't proving anything. I was surrendering and it wasn't until I found myself alone with what I believed to be the scariest people that I felt strong. You were sent, being one of the strongest Aizen had to make sure I'd come, not trusting anyone else could. But it wasn't because I was a possession, or that I was all that special. It's because my power came from the Heart, and it always had."

Remembering the moment her powers came into being at the sight of Tatsuki's head being split open by that horrible Hollow, all weakness melted away as the resolve to stand up for herself became imbued inside of her. Her ideal to becoming strong was only hampered by her perspective. Now that she was here, in a battle of life or death, she found the love she had for others helped empower her. The scared, weak Orihime was gone and now she was reborn as strong as she ever felt if not stronger than she could imagine.

As she encouraged herself, she saw Ulquiorra had grown very quiet and his emotionless canvas of a face had yet to even twitch. It was unnerving to see but she stood strong, knowing she could fight.

"_The Heart_, you say," Ulquiorra drawled out, his hand twitching slightly at his side as he began to step towards her across the sand. "You humans and Shinigami seem to toss that word around like it can be grasped physically grasped in the palm of your hand," Stopping partway, he slowly rose his free hand to gesture to his left iris in demonstration, still keeping a brisk approach. "My eyes see everything. There's not a single thing that goes unnoticed from my gaze. So if I cannot see it, it simply doesn't exist."

Stopping in front of her, Orihime almost felt intoxicated by his proximity. The intensity coming from his stare and voice combined was palpable, even if it wasn't emotionally invoked in a way she was normally used to. With an outstretched hand that made Ichigo lurch in place, a hand of his own trying to push through the barrier but had it snap at him enough to recoil, he could only watch as attentively as Nelliel did with her own widened gaze.

"Tell me, what _is _a _Heart_?" He asked, his fingers barely grazing the outer covering of her bosom as his eyes kept a constant stare with her eyes. "If I tore a hole in your chest, would I see it? If I ripped open your skull," He furthered with his fingers being a mere inch away from her widened eyes, her breath coming out in a hitch of surprise. "Would it be there?"

"Ulquiorra...!" Ichigo snarled, his grip on his sword tight enough to make it rattle in his hand.

"_I've never seen Ulquiorra obsess over anything like this before_," Nelliel realized as her thoughts reeled as much as her shock at his peculiar actions. "_Why does he have a fascination towards Orihime and the aspect of a_ Heart? _What is he after_?"

"It's not the kind of thing someone just sees with their eyes," Orihime finally responded, her voice overcoming the tenuous situation she was plunged in by staring headlong with a seriousness that even surprised the Arrancar. "It's something that they experience, that they learn and understand through time. You only know about it when that moment you feel a bond is born. Good or evil it exists between everyone. The Heart is what compels us, drives us, and imparts all things we want, question, or believe in."

"Is that so?" Ulquiorra asked, his hand still yet to move away from Orihime's face.

Nodding slowly, she replied with a hardened glare at his stubbornly still expression, "Even if you could see what a Heart is, would it exist?"

Hearing this made his eyes finally widen and his fingers withdrawn from her face. The context of such a question took him aback, as if he never considered such a concept. As Orihime let out breaths of relief that he had backed away even if only a little, he renewed his fervent stare. "There is something I want to know. Tell me-"

A singing whistle was heard through the wind, flowing forth in a blur of blue. Swiveling his arm appropriately, his hand grasped what looked like an arrow of Reishi. Crushing it into tiny bits in his hand his left eye turned to see a disc hovering Quincy heading straight towards him, with a red haired Lieutenant in tow. He thrust his sword out, silently compelling his Zanpakutō to Shikai as it stretched out to strike him where he stood. Turning to parry with his less than fully formed blade, the weapon bundled up and crackled with ricocheting force as he was completely unmoved by the assaults.

"Thank goodness we got here in time!" Renji cried out as Uryū took aim to fire another Heilig Pfeil at their established enemy.

"Looks like trash came to save the Fake," Ulquiorra murmured, his left hand reaching for the stump of the sword. With a sweeping gesture and a glow of turquoise the blade was renewed back to full length as if nothing happened. As Renji readied to release his Bankai and Uryū prepared to fire an onslaught of arrows, he scoffed out loud. "No matter how many of you there are, the result would be the same. Just leave before I'm forced to dirty my hands on you-"

"ORIHIME!"

Squeaking slightly at hearing Ichigo shout her name, she turned to reply a meek, "Y-Yes, Ichigo?"

"Let me out of this barrier," He commanded, an angry fire bore out of his eyes and towards the slight turn of the Arrancar's face. "You've out did yourself and healed me up. Even my Bankai is renewed back to normal. I don't know what you went through to do it, but I thank you for being so strong."

"Th-Thanks," She flushed slightly at the compliment, smiling warmly at gaining recognition. While it didn't have the same weight as she thought it would, it was nice knowing a dear friend of hers gave her such a compliment. With a mental command, she undid the barrier, happy to see even Nelliel's person was unharmed after the phenomena rejection.

As he took a step forward, Nelliel grabbed his arm tightly, "Ichigo, you don't need-"

"I do," He corrected her, his eyes meeting hers while a smile spread over his face. "You already did a good job, protecting me. Now it's my turn again, okay?"

Blinking owlishly, she smiled brightly at the phrase he used for her. Nodding, she whispered as she slowly let him go, "Promise me you'll win, Ichigo."

"Of course," He said confidently, ending with a sigh as he strode out to meet the Arrancar.

Ulquiorra could tell something dramatic had occurred. Other than what he knew was the Phenomena Rejection that had transpired over Ichigo's person he seemed to boast even more passive Reiatsu than before. He could almost see it as his Pesquisa felt it. When he was nary but arm's reach, the two seemed to be given a wide berth as the company knew a titanic battle was about to emerge.

"Let's skip the warm-up, Ulquiorra," He suggested with a rare confident smile. "I want to crush you with all of my might with nothing held back!"

"Want to punish me, do you? Fair warning, Ichigo Kurosaki," He monotoned as his body began to become encroached with a bright turquoise light just as Ichigo's was in a burgundy black mantle of Reiatsu. "Tread lightly, for you'll be getting far more than you bargained for!"

* * *

**A/N:** And like that, the Chapter finally ends. Phew, I almost made that a bit too long. Thankfully the minimized action helped make the read a bit more bearable for those who are usually casual readers. I say hope cause this still might be too long but hey, what can you do?

This was a long time coming for me if only for a lot of things being resolved here. Szayel's death is as pathetic as he deserved, Crisol being ferreted into the perverse care of Mayuri (I shudder to think what he has planned for the poor Mod Arrancar!), Nelliel and Ichigo's bonding time, Nelliel versus Ulquiorra (even if short, it's still there) along with some more development of Ulquiorra's character by way of a much stronger and confident Orihime! A lot happened and I hope with the next Chapter we can conclude our business with the Cuatro Espada and move onward with the story.

Thank you all for your continuous support by way of views and Reviews. They help encourage me in more ways than one and I thank you so much for that. And as for such a special treat for you all, I will be uploading the next Chapter this weekend! So not only will you get some character development but also a kickass fight in the making! I hope you're all excited about it as I am.

With that said, I wish you all a continued Happy New Year and have a very good week.


	12. I Am Hollow

**Within Emptiness I Hear It**

**The Beat Of The Heart**

**Substance Within The Void**

**If That Is True, Then Can Even The Heart Be Empty?**

* * *

"**Enclose, Murciélago**."

When Ulquiorra uttered those words, Ichigo had donned his mask. Where the latter's Reiatsu became a violent maelstrom of dense Reishi that weighed on the land so much that it created a flat landscape of crackling sand particles, the other spewed up into the sky. The burgundy outlined typhoon of energy was dispersed just as a rain of emerald Reishi petered and pattered across the land, hissing and sizzling upon contact.

Both of the warriors in their ultimate forms now stood a mere few meters away from each other. Ichigo in his Bankai and his new mask, now with a pair of red lines running from the top over his eye slits to the top row of his exterior teeth. Shadows rimmed with crimson ebbed from his body as his breath echoed in a Hollow fashion, making all the more intimidating to the observers.

On the opposing end was Ulquiorra whose body gained new attributes while changing his wardrobe. Gone were his tattered, battle-worn uniform in exchange for a sleeveless garment that was akin to a robe of alabaster. His mask fragment turned into a full kabuto with horns frayed in either direction as his hair grew long and flowed down to the center of his back. Bat shaped wings sprouted from the back at a moderate width from his shoulders and backside, emulating his vampire features ever so more clearly. Black, unarmed hands bore nothing but black painted lines over his digits. His eyes, now holding noticeably dark tear strokes down his face, trained on his opponent with the utmost seriousness just as the Substitute Shinigami geared up for battle.

"Their power is so palpable," Renji gasped out, his mouth agape at the feeling and sight he witnessed before his eyes. "I feel like the oxygen was sapped from the area and chains have been wrapped around me. Just what kind of level are they at now?"

"Believe it or not, you could get used to this if you tried," Uryū replied, retaining a cool composure despite the pressure he could feel coming from the two beings. Turning to look over at Orihime, whom he was surprised was standing looking resolute and stoic at the scene unfolding before her. For the first time it was the only occurrence he ever thought the young Inoue was fearless. Standing next to her was an equally reserved Nelliel, but the Quincy could see that her eyes quivered ever so slightly.

"Regardless," Uryū continued, turning his head to look directly at the Lieutenant. "We should get back. I feel we might get caught in a crossfire if we're not caref-"

It was during this instance, that Ulquiorra launched his attack.

A single twitch of the hand and a lance of turquoise Reishi formed into his grip. Dashing forward with a blurring rush of momentum, he slashed around to decapitate Ichigo only to be met with a rising parry. The resulting shockwave and flash of luminous Reiatsu caused both the Quincy and the Shinigami to fly back in a hurricane of wind. Blowing back past them for nearly a kilometer in radius, the follow-up swing of Tensa Zangetsu created another visible flash of spiritual lightning and another ear piercing shockwave.

"Got ya!" Orihime cried out as she used Santen Kesshun to cushion Uryū's frame.

"Thanks!" He replied gratefully over the roar of attacks now a bit farther away. Wincing against the triangular barrier he turned to see Renji had unintentionally glomped face first into Nelliel's chest. When she released him, his face was a flushed red and he was gasping for air, causing her to visibly worry. "He's fine! I guess you took him off guard!"

"Ah! Is it because I'm an Arrancar?!" She cried out over the roar of continuous crashes between the two warriors.

"_It's because your soft chest cushioned me too perfectly_," Renji thought as he tried to hide his face with an immediate turn to watch the battlefield. "_Dammit, I almost suffocated. I'm almost jealous of whoever's got her eyes on him_..."

Any further dialogue was halted as the battle continued to grow in intensity. They all watched with rapt attention as the two seemed to move at dizzying speeds few could ever gauge. Crashing figures discharged sprays of electricity, following each with a cacophony of shockwaves that continued to shake and rattle the landscape around them. Even if they were surrounded by a host of Hollows and Shinigami, they'd have completely ignored them.

The only world that existed was their fight and their desire to win.

"Impressive, Ichigo Kurosaki," Ulquiorra dryly complimented, his Luna de la Luna sparking in constant friction against the black as night blade Ichigo held. "To think you could match me in my form in terms of speed and power, it's almost funny. Are you sure you're not an Arrancar yourself?"

"_**I'm not a monster like you, Ulquiorra!**_" Snarled out the Substitute Shinigami, his golden eyes glaring heatedly at Ulquiorra's emerald stoic orbs. Sliding his sword around the Espada's Reishi weapon, he jabbed a number of high-speed thrusts, all of which were side-stepped or parried with expert footwork and timing. All the while Ichigo kept howling as he attacked with all of his might against his foe.

It was during one of the Visored's jabs that the Arrancar swung both of his wings inward, unleashing a buffet of Reiatsu that crashed into him. Halting his momentum as he was jarred by the sonic wave of force he narrowly swiped his blade at a thrust of the Shinigamified Hollow's lance. What he failed to detect right away was a simple palming gesture sent towards him, briefly sparking a crimson light just before the air popped and his body was sent careening backwards in the wake of an instantaneously fired Bala.

Wincing from the force that sent him shredding through the field of sand, he halted his momentum after a quarter of a mile had passed, flipping head over heels to land back on his feet. His eyes widened when he saw the lance was thrown his way, mere meters away by the time he regained his balance. Without even thinking it, he charged his Reiatsu into his blade, producing an aura of deep onyx with a rivulet of dark crimson. With a swing, he shattered the lance, its shards of light dissipating within the air.

"Good counter," Cuatro Espada complimented blandly as he appeared behind the Visored, swinging his blade down at his shoulder only to be reflected by the energy wrapped Zanpakutō. "You used a Getsuga Tenshō by condensing its power around your sword, shattering my **Luz de la Luna**."

"_**Yeah, I'm full of surprises!**_" Ichigo shouted in retort, his elbow jabbing out to catch an unsuspecting Ulquiorra in the chest. While the attack normally would have only stunned him for a second, the wreathe of black Reiatsu coming off his limb caused the Arrancar's eyes to widen and his mouth to spew out spittle at the impact he suffered. Flying backwards at an uncontrolled rate, Ichigo was free to turn on his heels and leap after the airborne opponent, swinging his Getsuga wrapped blade towards him.

Within an inch of being cut by the fire filled Reishi blade, Ulquiorra evaporated within the use of a well timed employment of Sonido. As the sand was cut and spread out with an explosive wave of spiritual reinforced pressure the Substitute Shinigami was treated to a rare sight. He could see where the Arrancar was heading. While the sands were still being parted by his blade he turned his head around his shoulder as if time stood still, watching the Arrancar take a momentary second to cradle his tattered midsection where hints of a bruising was seen.

A summoning of Luz de la Luna was made for each hand, allowing the Cuatro Espada to launch one lance at Ichigo while holding one at bay.

"_**Not this time!**_" He roared out loud as his body moved in a black blur, crashing through the first projectile made by the lance by endowing himself in a curtain of Getsuga Reishi. Stopping short just where his foe's Reiatsu emitted plain as day from him, he unleashed a flurry of thrusts, converting his aura of Getsuga into a number of Getsuga Thrusts; dozens of hilt-less blades of compressed energy aimed to crash into him at near point blank.

Just like before, Ulquiorra managed to evade at the last second, but this time Ichigo was prepared with a counterattack. Swinging around in a spin to slash at the same time as an inverted Arrancar took a swing with his own turquoise spear, their clash created a disturbing flash of light followed by a forceful wind to beat across each other's persons. But as they clashed, Ichigo concentrated and focused, just like he had been told. To that end, he wanted to offset his opponent any way he could.

"Heh," Ichigo chuckled through his mask, making it no secret to his impassive faced enemy.

"Do you find something funny, Ichigo Kurosaki?" He inquired in as blank and uninterested tone as he could manage.

"_**It's just that**_," He began, still pressuring against the Espada's weapon. "_**I've been able to see your movements just now. This got me thinking. Either what you say is true and I'm becoming a monstrous freak like you. Or you seem to becoming more human**_."

It was a subtle expressive widening of his eyes and a not so subtle explosion of Reiatsu that sent Ichigo reeling back a good dozen meters that made him realize he struck a nerve. Even more so than what words his opponent chose to speak back.

"Me, becoming more human?" He asked with a lethal glare emanating from his otherwise expressionless face. The air was thick with his out pour of Reiatsu, creating violent cracks of flashing ebony colored Reishi to spiral around the air in and around his immediate vicinity. "Absurd. Just like the notion you'd ever become a true Arrancar with those imitations of Hollow powers you have."

"_**Fake or not**_," He replied with a hidden grin, brandishing his sword with one arm while keeping the other at his side, fist clenched tightly. "_**It'll be enough to kill a bastard like you!**_"

Without retorting, Ulquiorra rushed forward in the wake of collapsing the air around him. Spinning his lance around he began a series of jabs and slashes at Ichigo, enough that it put him on the defensive. The aim to completely overwhelm him with pure offense was his ambition and he'd show him just how frail his powers really were-

"_**CERO!**_" Ichigo announced with a Getsuga infused parry, shattering Ulquiorra's weapon in an instant of making him weaponless. With his free hand already pointing at the Arrancar, the compressed sphere of deep red was unleashed in a violent expulsion of force. Sending him spiraling backwards the Substitute Shinigami only felt enough reprieve from his attack until a turquoise wave of Reiatsu tore it in half, revealing two spears in either hand.

But the results were far different than the last time he used a Cero on Ulquiorra. Back then he was experimenting, trying a new technique just to gain an edge. Now that he had a far better grasp of the subject, the wounds were plain as day; charred skin that oozed pus and blood ebbed across the arms of the Espada, having taken the majority of the attack without harm done to the rest of his body.

"It just dawned on me that your Getsuga is quite a resemblance of a Cero," He muttered out, his eyes narrowing at the vapor exuding hand that Ichigo lowered to his side. "It's no wonder you were able to fire a much more effective one this time around. It actually did quite a bit of damage. Not that it matters in the end."

"_**Don't compare a Getsuga to a Cero!**_" Ichigo snarled out loud, almost disgusted to have the two put side by side. "_**Zangetsu taught me that technique, not a damned Hollow! It's my Zanpakutō's true power, not that an emotionless bastard like you would understand**_."

"On the contrary, I understand the relationship between Shinigami and Zanpakutō is usually quite intimate. In fact, it's probably the envy of most Arrancars that you have a reliable ally to call upon to use their strength to bolster your own," Ulquiorra countered coolly, tilting his head slightly to the side. "It is of my opinion, it's remarkable coincidence that your prided technique, a skill you claim your Zanpakutō taught you, resembles the Cero we Espada use in our released states."

It was within that sentence that Ichigo's blood ran cold. He remembered the Cero he spoke of all too well. The very one that Nelliel, in a bout of rage, had used against Nnoitra and utterly destroyed him in his released state as well. While the method of firing was different, the Reishi's use was ultimately the same.

"_What are you using my technique for? I was the one to use the Black Getsuga Tenshō, not you. You simply copied my own ability, you damned brat!_"

"_Is that what he meant? Is it a Hollowfied nature that my Getsuga is dyed in black? But, that means_-" Ichigo tried to think, but his train of thought was cut off when the familiar sound of a low bass thrumming was heard. Looking up, he saw as much as he felt an enormous gathering of Reiatsu to be infused into a pitch black sphere of Reishi. There was no denying it what he felt within his heart. The Cero Oscuras and his Black Getsuga were practically the same!

"**Cero Oscuras**," The Espada whispered out loud, unleashing a damning pillar of roaring Reishi that streaked through the wind. Ebbing of light emerald on its outside it was a pure wave of blackness. And for the first time, Ichigo could witness the visual horror of seeing nothing but an abysmal void aiming to eradicate him.

Through this realization he had used up any time to plan an evasive maneuver he charged into the bleak colored Reishi wave. Growling with guttural fervor, his blade was the only thing between him and unquestionable pain or near death. Grinding his teeth behind his mask, the Reiatsu ebbing from him wildly swirled around his sword, creating a counter of sinister red outlined darkness. Rising up so high it seemed to pierce the very sky and opaque the moon from all observers' point of view.

"**Getsuga Tenshō!**" He howled out loud, his mask separating at the teeth to show his own set of teeth bared as he yelled out his attack. Swinging it forward, it parted the sea of black with his own scorching bleak force of power. Funneling forward it looked like a monstrous twister of crimson outlined shadows, snarling and howling with its own ferocity as if it was alive.

"_My Cero_-!" Ulquiorra thought as he witnessed his own output of Reishi completely overpowered and felt an oncoming rush of momentum from his opponent's attack. A blinding feeling of pain followed by him using Sonido to the left and he was on the ground. The shrieking Getsuga continued to fly across the horizon, carving a path of destruction before it finally dissipated in the distance. When the light of the moon returned, all could see Ulquiorra and what kind of injuries he sustained.

Tears of crimson corrupted the impeccably white sand that the Arrancar stood upon. Dripping incessantly, it trailed off where his arm used to be and was now a charred stump that wasn't completely cauterized. Steam ebbed off his scorched right side of his slender designed uniform, revealing part of his face along with his exposed side was burnt less severely but most noticeably. Despite all of the pain accompanied with losing a limb and damage to his skin, the Espada didn't flinch nor did he sweat profusely. It was unnerving for Ichigo to see, but he dismissed it as simply a brave front.

"_**You're still fast enough to avoid my Getsuga Tenshō**_," He murmured out as he approached him with a Shunpo, landing directly in front of him. "_**You're one tough bastard, I'll give you that**_."

"You think this triumph of yours matters? Only a human could possess such a narrow minded view," The Espada retorted with a spat of disdain. "I admit, our powers seem quite close to the point of confusing it as equal or even yours being superior. But where you may experience damage or injury, I happen to naturally remedy it far easier than you can imagine."

Before the Substitute Shinigami could question him what he meant, a hissing gout of blood and smoke ebbed from the stump of the Arrancar's arm. Within seconds, a new arm had sprung forth, and his burns were erased seemingly quicker than his limb being renewed. Experimentally clenching his fist before opening his palm, he waved his hand in demonstration, "There. As easy as exhaling air, I can regenerate any injury you give me. I alone among the Espada have retained my natural Hollow powers of regeneration over gaining more power."

While the Visored knew he himself never possessed such wild powers, he knew there had to be some catch to what Ulquiorra claimed. Even his experience of fighting Hollows he knew that they needed time to restore their bodies and even then, the head was always the most vital spot. And with a body of a Shinigami, the Cuatro Espada may be even more vulnerable than what he'd like to admit. Furrowing his brows Ichigo raised his blade to point at his foe directly with a single hand.

"_**Let's see how confident you are after I've taken that head off your shoulders,**_" Ichigo snarled with a guttural edge through his mask.

"Can you?" Ulquiorra questioned with a dry blink. "You obviously believe so given my current state of powers is matched by yours if not slightly surpassed my own. Your adaption to powers set before you and the experience from past battles have made you a significant more of a threat than I ever gave you credit to be. Honestly, I wanted to simply destroy you for the destruction of Las Noches and interfering with Lord Aizen's plans. Now, I believe you'll be putting Lord Aizen in danger if you are allowed to live and escape this plane."

The strawberry haired man wanted to quip but he was cut off as a ominous pull on the environment was felt. The pit of his stomach lurched and his whole being grew heavier. His eyes widened as a ominous pulse of Reiatsu flourished off of the Espada. Expanding outwards it soon created an eclipsing dome of pitch black Reishi that waved past his body, giving him a cold chill in his blood as it flourished out past Renji, Uryū, Nelliel and Orihime.

"What is he doing?!" Nelliel inquired sharply.

"I thought you'd know that, being his ex-partner!" Renji barked as he felt himself drop to a knee just as the Quincy buckled at the feeling the same as Nelliel did.

"I was his peer, his teacher and his comrade. But this...I never felt this kind of strength coming from him! It's almost like he's-"

"Aizen..."

The faint ghost of a whisper cut through the dialogue like a razor, earning everyone's turn of the head to look straight at Orihime. Her continuous courage had been both inspirational and an awe to witness since she began fighting. But now, as she looked on, a look of pale colored terror was painted across her face. Pupils contracted and her mouth parted, she continued to speak in the same haunting tone. "His power...it's so cold and overwhelming...it reminds me when my eyes met Aizen's."

The implications were terrifying but unmistakable. As the others turned to look on, Nelliel's own throat grew parch and her mouth parted as she wordlessly called out Ichigo's name. She knew he couldn't hear him, but she herself felt something horrible was coming and she couldn't do anything to protect him this time.

"_Ichigo...please...don't die!_"

* * *

**Chapter**

**12**

**I **

**Am**

**Hollow**

* * *

"What is that Reiatsu?!" Nanao spoke out with alarm, feeling a wave of an inner cold swim through her very being. Even the moon seemed to grow dimmer in the distant horizon of darkness that sent a visible wave that passed over them like a violent gust of wind. She didn't know if it ever stopped flowing along the sands of Hueco Mundo, only that it came from a simple expulsion of excess Reishi; some of it being so intoxicating she swore it was reminiscent of her time being choked by the Captain Commander's own power.

"Please tell me it's that Ichigo guy," Sentarō gulped, feeling incredibly insignificant, even at a distance when feeling such strength.

"B-But he'll beat him, right? It's not like he'll lose and make us fight 'em?" Kiyone tried to joke, laughing nervously before realizing no one joined in.

"Captain?" Isane questioned Byakuya whom simply made a slight turn to look over his shoulder. Seeing his expression unmoved, she knew what the answer was going to be before he spoke.

"We continue our search. We'll deal with whatever problems the Substitute Shinigami is unable to handle on his own," He crisply declared, taking more steps across desert towards where he felt faint signatures of his adopted sister's Reiryoku.

It was all they had to go by, but it was better than simply wandering aimlessly. Not even **Kakushitsuijaku **was able to properly gauge a location to determine her location despite the adamant faint presence of her lingering Reishi in the air. Still, between all of them, they had to find at least something regarding Rukia Kuchiki's whereabouts.

"S-Should we-"

"Let it go, Momo," Nanao sighed in answer to her shorter Lieutenant. "If he wasn't a strong guy, the Captain Commander wouldn't have sent us to help him when he needed it. I'm sure he can pull through."

"Right," She smiled, feeling less worried about their ally failing and them having to confront this massive force that echoed across the wasteland.

"Enough stalling," Byakuya announced, stepping forward in a beginning of a sprint before he disappeared in a rapid series of Shunpo. As the others followed behind his brows creased in a rare sign of worry. Since coming to Hueco Mundo he had nearly been wrested of his own free will and struck down his own comrades on the behest of a vile Arrancar. And now, his sister disappeared along with Lieutenant Sasakibe. He didn't want to believe the possibility she was killed and her body destroyed because of this trace he discovered. He wanted to hope, but he dare not speak what was on his mind to anyone.

"Do your duty, Ichigo Kurosaki," He finished within his mind as he rapidly propelled himself across the sands of the other worldly earth. "And I'll do mine."

* * *

"**Segunda Etapa**," Ulquiorra finished declaring as a deranged ripping sound finished as his transformation completed. Gone was the trappings of white and bone colored helmet, now replaced with a physical appearance that radically altered his visage. Dark lines ran more bold on his face from his pale yellow eyes, his hair spreading around his crown with now a pair of arching hornes coming from the sides of his head. Up to his elbows was a consistency of black fur, fingers elongating into macabre detailed nails that imitated claws. His Hollow hole on complete display had a gruesome streak of black running down to his waist, completely wrapped by more black fur that formed a v-shape tress behind him while a long bush ended tail whipped around his form. Clawed feet matching his hands gave him a truly beastly look while retaining a human shape that continually ebbed a horrendous amount of abysmal Reiatsu as a result of his multiplied Reiryoku.

Ichigo had no words, he was so in shock that such power existed that he may as well not been using Bankai or his mask at all. The gap between them was so plain as day it made it hard for him to conjure the will to even more out of his stupor.

"Yes, that's an appropriate response, Ichigo Kurosaki," The Cuatro Espada finally spoke, his words snapping Ichigo out of his daze enough for him to renew his grip on his weapon. "I never have used this form in combat before. Not even Lord Aizen knows about this level, this power beyond a Shinigami's Bankai or what imitation of Hollow powers you possess. You could say this next level of Murciélago's powers is its truest state. With that being said, do I still look _human _to you, pretender?"

Still at a loss for words as to what to do, Ichigo remembered the only kind of power that was close to this feeling. It was back when he fought Aizen for the first time. Even while running on fumes he attacked the man in his Bankai but he deflected it with a single finger. For a moment, he couldn't even function not by the feat alone; it was the depths of the immense Reiryoku he felt behind the single digit that held back the totality of his power with such ease. Just staring at Ulquiorra's eyes just gave him that same eerie sense of overwhelming strength.

And he had no idea how he was going to beat someone of this level!

"No answer? That's just fine," Ulquiorra replied smoothly, his body leaning forward in a three-armed crouch; akin to how an animal would prepare to strike. "I'll just show you the true gap between our powers, pretender!"

Ichigo knew from the momentum that his opponent propelled at, he wouldn't be able to get much time to react. Raising his blade up at a diagonal angle he prepared his defenses. If he could at least fire a Getsuga, perhaps he could-

"_**NGH?!**_" The Visored reacted as his whole body jerked to the side, his head grasped by a black hand that grasped him from the right. Eyes widened at the jerking motion and his sight still was seeing a phantom image of the Arrancar's flying frame. It wasn't until that he was catapulted through a body of sand, essentially parting the white sea of particles, that he realized Ulquiorra had adjusted his position with a Sonido.

Not allowed an instant of respite or forethought, the skidding Shinigami felt a sharp kick from his enemy as he instantaneously timed his attack at the moment of his deceleration. Half of his mask shattered in an instant, blood flying off from long lacerations made across his face that nearly cut into his eye. Even still, his eyes were closed by the sudden spasm of pain as he was sent whipping up high into the moon-lit sky.

Without any real plan, Ichigo raised a hand up to repair his mask, enduring the pain his face felt as he desperately tried to look around as he forced himself to a stop in the sky. As blood seeped underneath the mask and dripped past his jawline, he held his blade with such a shaking grip that it felt his hands were vibrating. One flapping sound echoed behind him and the Substitute gulped, turning slowly to see Ulquiorra lazily pressing his finger into his back.

A mute declaration of attack later and Ichigo felt his whole backside light up in a turquoise blaze as he became a comet of precise velocity. Impacting the sand floor with enough power to push him past the canopy of the Menos Forest, his body crashed and cracked through multiple mineralized branches of Reishi. Within the darkness he was able to see the moonlight peter through, only for it to become an image of a winged bat as his enemy followed after him.

Grasping a branch, Ichigo pulled himself around and spun back towards the speeding Ulquiorra. Howling out he unleashed a storm of thrusts, using his incredible speed and Getsuga wrapped edge to add power to every strike. Just when he thought he saw the attacks connect he found himself flabbergasted that they were easily parried...by the Arrancar's wings!

"Is this what you call a counterattack?" Ulquiorra inquired dryly, his hands residing at his sides as his larger appendages kept up with ease against his lesser opponent. "Pitiful."

"_**GRRRR!**_" Ichigo snarled, concentrating on a two fold attack. Swinging his blade around in a figure eight movement before it was lifted over his head and just nary over his still smoldering coated back. "_**Getsuga**_," A guttural growl, followed by an ungodly howl as he swung his blade at the unmoving Espada. "_**Tensh**__**ō!**_"

Like a torrential wave of blackness ebbing of dark red, it spread outward and consumed many of the branches and rising tops of the crystalline trees within the forest. The result was the complete collapse of some of the residually hanging body of sand above them. As it rained down, light snaked in, revealing more of the haunting sight as it peeled back the layers of shadows along Ulquiorra to Ichigo's outward holding blade.

To the young man, it was a sinking feeling in his stomach at the sight; a marvelous black blade running down to its tip touching the trail of similar hue skin just below a hollow hole. But not a trace of the attack could be seen that caused a downpour of sand around them. Not even the razor edge even pushed against the steel-like Hierro surrounding the Cuatro Espada. His own golden eyes met Ulquiorra's, seeing not just annoyance but...disappointment.

"It is as I suspected," The Arrancar whispered, his eyes closing. "They were all just words. It mustn't exist in the way she described."

"_**What are you**_-_**GLK?!**_" Ichigo began to to question until he felt the cold grip of his enemy's hand clenched around his throat. The movement was all but too quick for his eyes to follow, and thus his own sense of Reiatsu was rendered null. Grinding his teeth behind his mask, he felt his sword pushed aside with a single finger with Ulquiorra's free hand.

"This Heart that keeps you fighting on, and propels you forward. It's all just a liability you humans, and by extension Shinigami, possess that pushes them into an early grave," He remarked coldly, his anger barely subdued as his grip tightened around the orange haired man's neck. "What reason do you have to fight, if you can't up your so-called big talk with real strength?"

In an instant, Ichigo replied by letting out a gargled snarl. But instead of it simply being unintelligible gibberish, his mask opened with his own mouth. A quick release of a bright light of crimson-white Cero swam outward, colliding into Ulquiorra's face with a mighty explosion that shook the air around them. The shockwave was enough for the Visored to regain his balance and be released out of the chokehold. As he rubbed his neck with one free hand, he looked up with apprehension as Ulquiorra blew back the smoke with a single wave of his right wing.

"_**I've known you were stronger than me. How couldn't I? You killed me the first time we fought**_," Ichigo replied through his mask, enrapturing Getsuga around his Zanpakutō. When it was seeped in a pitch black that was wreathed in a dim red, he readied himself as his opponent slowly tread closer. "_**But, that doesn't matter. I have people counting on me. Someone who'd die for me in a heartbeat. I can't stop fighting until I win because I MUST**_-"

Just as the blade swung towards Ulquiorra, he saw the Arrancar lazily sidestep the attack. At the same time his left hand appeared in his field of vision, its back colliding into his face and swinging outward in a backhand motion. The explosive Reiatsu unleashed at that moment was enough to completely shatter his mask into dust, ushering his mouth to spew out spittle and blood as the rest of his body was sent careening backwards. Before he got very far, his foot was entangled by his tail, yanking him back around to be snap kicked upwards and then palmed to somersault head over heel into a larger crystalline tree within the dark.

His vision swam, only barely making out the yellow eyed demonic visage of his enemy coming closer. As blood leaked out of his mouth, he shakily raised his blade in defense, barely making out what Ulquiorra spoke in retort.

"You hold that sword with such an empty ideal, it might as well be a blunt stick," The Espada ridiculed Ichigo, his body bathing in the darkness in an almost revelling sensation. It was here he was in his best element. The very visual medium of his own state of emptiness that Hueco Mundo was known for by the darkness. "Saying that you're fighting because you have attachments, that people rely on you and that you have to is a paltry comparison to my own duty. I must kill you, Ichigo Kurosaki, because Aizen demands there to be no survivors that threaten his kingdom. He knows that my purpose is assurred because my confidence in what I aim to do is pure. Your own misguided attempt of showing what The Heart or any human can achieve against a superior being is foolish if not outright ignorant of your own inability to understand what you are lacking."

"What is...that...pray tell?" Ichigo wheezed out, sweat starting to crawl off his face as the sclera in his eyes return to a normal color just as his yellow irises shift to hazel.

"Your use your Hollow mask when you fight but it has no weight, no true cohesion. It would be like if I rejected my easily mistakable appearance of humans to show my truest Hollow self. I embody what I am in its entirety and it is unmatched. You just play pretend, hence your moniker I rightfully bestowed upon you," He explained, his body once more a little more than a sword's reach away. "The sword you swing around may as well be a toy considering how it and the mask of your are so closely tied. Such a waste of such power when you use it so foolishly."

A tail lash out later and Ichigo felt himself throttled across the canopy, his body careening through the tops like glass, shattering around him in abundance as he was incapable of fighting back at this point. Every swipe, every slap and every twitch seemed to cause an excruciating amount of pain. The power was so easily controlled and released it was mind boggling to think that Aizen had similar if not even greater power than this Espada of his. How could he measure up? Did he ever stand a chance?

Then, he remembered Ulquiorra's choice of words. He seemed almost disgusted with how Ichigo controlled his Hollow abilities. It wasn't like that with the others. People either exhibited momentary surprise or just simply were confused. Out of all of them it seemed Ulquiorra understood its nature best if only because he himself was a Hybrid Spiritual Being. If even what a modicum of what he said was true, what was holding him back?

"_What is there to be angry about?_" He remembered, suddenly visualizing himself holding Nel in her child form while a shallow cut was made on him that was shown visibly by the trail of blood on Dordonii's hand. He ridiculed as he spoke, his Sword Released Form as apparent as the Bankai he wore in readiness.

"_If your objective is to 'protect your friends' and my objective is to 'defeat you at full strength', then what I'm going to aim for is not you, but that little bebé. Nothing more_."

He remembered that encounter and tried to think hard why he had held back so long. He shouldn't have hesitated to use all of his power to crush his enemies, then and there. But he kept it back, claiming it was for the sake of reserving strength for stronger opponents. No, it was something else, something deeper.

Feeling himself flung across the air again, he harnessed another current of Getsuga around his blade. Throwing it quickly, his eyes didn't immediately register Ulquiorra's hand but instead a crimson Cero. Dodging instinctively, he remembered the bright day scenery from his fight with Grimmjow. He had put himself against his opponent in his Bankai, once again holding back his Hollowfication. Just as the Arrancar prepped his Gran Rey Cero, he looked back over his shoulder and then shouted at his opponent to stop. It was only by the skin of his teeth that he donned the mask in time to break the attack...and remember the look of horror Orihime gave him.

"_This stupid mask is a reminder of the monster that I have harbored in my soul!_" Ichigo thought with disdain, donning it once again with a grimace as he tried to fend off a few more swipes from Ulquiorra. Each time he felt like his arms were about to be ripped out of their sockets just from parrying. Another unseen kick and he cried out in his hollowed tone as he crashed through more Reishi built trees. "_Why?! Why do I have to use the face of a monster that hurt so many people?! My mother, my sisters, Orihime, Chad, Rukia...all of them been harmed or scarred by freaks of Hell!_"

"_Come on, I can take care of this guy!_"

His mind suddenly flashed to the time that Yammy was drawing his sword, the sickening lurch in his stomach as his body was about to be possessed by his own Hollow from within. From that point on, things went bad to worse, all because he denied the full rein his internal demon yearned to have over him. Would things have went better if he had? He couldn't think that way because all of his strength and will was surrendered to someone not other than himself-

"_Do you trust me, Ichigo?_"

Ichigo remembered such words come back to his mind, the presence of the Old Man he desperately wanted to return. Now more than ever, but something also felt off. As he recounted as he verbally told him all of his power was his to command and that all he needed in return was strength to fight, the power he felt flow through him wasn't what he'd expected. In fact it felt more like the presence of his mask now that he thought about it.

"_That's right_," Ichigo pondered as he tried to wrench himself out of the bottom floor of the forest that he was rag dolled through. Trees laid scattered all around and clattered like fragments of glass. Blood ebbed from his skull down over his face, making his eyes hardly open at all. His uniform was cut and slashed but still intact, but his mask was once again ripped apart by his foe. As he saw the last fragments fall to the ground and dissipate his dust, he closed his eyes in remembrance. "_He called my Hollow_ myself. _Zangetsu never once trained me formally. I always had to get through this guy. I'm now starting to wonder why_."

As he awaited his attacker to come back for another round of beatings he recalled how many times he was so close to death only for his mask to save his life. The first time when Tessai was about to use his binding Kidō and he emerged as a Shinigami with a mask donned on his face. The next was when he nearly been felled by Renji's attacks and the next by Kenpachi Zaraki. Each time it was when his life was threatened, his Hollow was the one to give him strength or protect him.

"_Why would that bastard want to save me? Keep me alive if he hated me so much?_" He thought as he pondered harder. Then, he knew that from the first mention of Ulquiorra how his Zanpakutō technique resembled a Hollow's Cero was too hard to ignore that something was incredibly off. His own Shinigami abilities, so basic and purely destructive in their means akin to the nature of a Hollow which made using its own powers like second nature. It felt connected. His Shinigami powers were Hollow all along. "_Then why did the Old Man keep that from me? Why didn't that other guy clue me in? What the Hell is_-"

A second later, and Ulquiorra's fist crashed into the side of his skull, causing his eyes to roll into the back of his head as he was sent tumbling head over heels across the ground yet again.

"I think I'm about done, Ichigo Kurosaki," He whispered as he watched the distantly retreating form of his enemy. Raising his hand up, he splayed open his clawed digits purposefully as he declared a bit louder. "It's about time I finish this charade."

* * *

The fight roared on even from their unseeing eyes. The overwhelming ocean of Reiatsu that Ulquiorra had flooded the space of desert they all stood in was so numbing that they couldn't try to sense Ichigo. All they knew was that the longer the battle dragged out, the more damage the Substitute Shinigami was taking. The only indication he wasn't killed yet was that the sounds of battle were still occurring, even under their feet.

But that was all there was of knowing. The only assurrance their best chance of beating Ulquiorra was being a punching bag. None of them could hope to follow his attacks nor comprehend his strength when the Cuatro Espada revealed this new transformation. With little effort, he turned Ichigo's new found powers right on his head. Driving him down past the sandy sea, he was now crashing through the forest began to shift and stir under their feet.

One particular set of rumbles caused pits form in the sand, causing all four of them begin to drop down into the pale barked woodland.

Within the descent, Renji thought quick and used his already released Zanpakutō to stretch out across the air. Despite the numerous collapsing trees surrounding them, his wire-linked series of blades found purchase with a thick limb and wrapped around it. Pulling his arm around Nelliel, he swung himself through the shower of sand and flipped up to land on another opposing tree's branch.

"Thanks," Nel replied with a smile.

"Just consider it payback for...well, before," Renji remarked with a slight flush expression.

"Dammit, Ichigo!" Uryū swore out as he formed a Reishi platform, allowing both himself and Orihime to steady themselves a couple dozen meters away from them "What's the matter with you? You're not going to just lose to this guy, are you?!"

"He will," Orihime breathed out loud, earning a look of shock as he saw Ichigo's most adamant believer was faltering now. Her eyes dilated to almost the size of pins, her hands shook at her sides. "How...how can anyone survive against that? H-How-"

Uryū didn't have the words of encouragement she needed. Looking across at Nelliel he could tell the other woman's brief smile was wiped away when her eyes traced across the ground. She looked desperate, wanting to find any trace someone she treasured was still alive. He didn't know Nelliel long but as a child she had a benign innocence that was...unfounded in most Hollowity. And for all of the annoyance Pesche and Dondochakka possessed, they were well founded and meaningful Arrancars who took their guardianship of Nel seriously. They fought with all the strength for the most righteous of reasons something that put his belief in Hollows into incertainty.

"We have to find him!" Nelliel cried out, bringing Uryū out of his stupor and brought alertness to both Renji and Orihime. Her sword filled scabbard shook in her left hand as she turned to all three of them. Eyes full of panic and seriousness, she waved her hand around as she continued to yell above the explosions and crashes below their feet. "Ichigo needs us! He's fought for us, it's time we help him!"

"Are you insane?!" Renji shouted at her, his sword flailing towards the destruction seemingly kilometers below. "That monster is tossing him around like a ball. We won't have a chance in Hell of stopping him. What kind of plan could even come close to succeeding?"

"It's not a matter of stopping him or even beating him," She argued, her eyes glaring into Renji's with a fierceness that made him take a step back on the branch. "He's your friend, and he didn't need to fight. He never had to fight for any of you yet he's here, rescuing people and defending others who he doesn't owe anything. I may not know many Shinigami but he's the best shining example of selflessness and honor I've ever seen. If you want to let someone like that die, then I know why Hollows love to kill Shinigami so much. You disgust me!"

"YOU DON'T THINK I WANT TO HELP?!" Renji snarled, fighting past his initial apprehension to raise his sword slightly as his anger was starting to get the better of him. "He saved Rukia! He fought against the one man I wanted to beat and did just that! I may hate his guts but I respect him for what he is! But I'm a warrior, not a saint. I will not throw my life away in a suicide attempt for the sake of just trying!"

"You-!"

"Lady Nel! Lady Nellllll!~"

"-who?" Nel turned on her heel, looking up to see someone on the edge of the pit of sand they fell in was none other than Pesche. Catching sight of him, she saw he was flanked on the side with both Aaron-Chad and Dondochakka.

"Dondochakka! Pesche!" She cried out, waving at them so they could see her. "I'm here!"

"Oh thank the sands!" Pesche shouted aloud, jumping down and followed by his bulkier comrade with Aaron-Chad behind. After some careful leaping the three landed at their midst, with Uryū and Orihime now joining them on the same branch. The echoes of the attacks now drawing quieter and longer intervals between each, they knew it was a matter of time before their friend met an untimely end.

"I'm assuming there's a plan," Aaron-Chad piped up, earning a look from everyone. Seeing almost everyone just looked away or couldn't muster up a reply earned a sigh from the Exequias. Turning to look at Uryū, he proposed with a hand up. "I know it's a long shot but...I think I have an idea. If we can at least get him away from Ulquiorra for a few moments, Orihime could use her abilities to allow Ichigo to recouperate. Perhaps this ordeal could give him the boost he needs in order to fight on par with Ulquiorra's new form."

"How will that work?" Renji looked skeptically at the usually few worded man.

"No, he's right," Uryū rebuked as he turned to look at the Shinigami and the others. "Ichigo's powers have grown greater after each battle. He's not the same person when we entered Hueco Mundo. I'm sure Orihime can attest to that."

"Is it true?" The Shinigami asked the woman who began to nod her head, her disposition becoming less of panic and more hopeful. Sighing, he looked over at Chad he grinned slightly. "I know this is a dumb idea but a challenge of taking a guy on Aizen's level got my attention. How are we going to get to him and make him distracted?"

"Alright," Aaron-Chad began, unfurling his plan into motion. He needed time to make sure his main body could finish evolving. If someone like Ulquiorra found him before the process was finished, it'd be the most damning consequence. He had to save Ichigo at all costs if only to just survive Ulquiorra's reprisal and knowledge of what exactly he had done. "This is what we should do..."

* * *

A lasting explosion that shot upwards through the sea of sand, Ulquiorra finally took hold of Ichigo's neck. He had long suspected he lost consciousness awhile back. Still something within him stirred his being to such levels that he'd dare say it was the equivalent of anger. Not wanting to dwell on the fact he exhibited an emotion such as that, he kept up his assault, surprised the Substitute's body hadn't crumbled under his touch.

It was just a testament to how stubborn he was. His now bare torso was peppered with lacerations, burns and bruises yet still had yet to look truly destroyed. Seeing that he had yet to relinquish his grip on his sword even after all the punishment he knew that he needed to taste true defeat. It'd cost him his life, but it mattered little to him. He just wished the woman was within sight before his end was met.

Why he desired that he had no idea why if only to drive a point across.

"Your _Heart_ is what killed you, Ichigo Kurosaki," He stated as he pulled back his spare arm, aiming it for the same spot he stabbed in their prior fight. "Allow me to take it from you so in death you'll feel what I do. Nothing!"

It was in this instant that he almost didn't hear it. A distant roar and a blast of Reiatsu that came out of a not too distant pit. Turning his gaze he didn't have time to see the silhouette's frame and only that a lance was sent spiraling towards him. One that built up momentum and became a spinning drill of Reishi wrapped steel.

"So, you've come to die with him," Ulquiorra stated aloud, his spare hand now gesturing at the land. With a flash of light following a shockwave, the weapon was sent sprawling away in a haphazard manner, now devoid of the power it was thrown with. "Commendable attempt but annoying at best. Let me finish and I'll be right-"

It came completely unexpected. Within the bout of superior Reiryoku that his former superior had, a power welled up underneath him. Striking upward with ferocity that clamped over his whole body, the maw of a bone-bodied serpent sent him spiraling up into the sky. In the confusion he had lost his grip on Ichigo and his limp body was sent sprawling to the side, now caught in the arms of Nelliel, weapon returned in her grip.

"Desperate, aren't we?" Ulquiorra asked dryly, his wings spread out, unleashing a pressure that completely tore apart the Bankai. Sending its fragments raining across the sand he saw the Shinigami who had rose up from beneath the surface glare daggers up at him. Amidst the fragment, however, Aaron-Chad swung his right arm, unleashing an **El Directo** point blank. With a wing remaining upward in its blocking motion, it waved back and crashed into his shield arm, sending him impacting into the sand where the rest of the Bankai segments. "My Pesquisa isn't so easily pierced to not have sensed your presence, human."

"Ngh," Aaron-Chad winced, rising up with a stumble as he looked up at the Cuatro Espada. But in a blink, he was already in front of him. With instinct he pulled back his left arm and swung it in hopes of connecting **La Muerte**. Before it even reached his face it was caught at the bicep and tricep with his tail. A twisting jerk later, and his arm was pulled out of its socket, earning a yell of pain from his mouth. That was silenced when the same limb he yanked out bodily collided into his defenseless side, sending him skipping across the sandy surface.

Nelliel was running to the spot Orihime was waiting. With Uryū standing by her side, she barely was two dozen meters away before Ulquiorra appeared. Stopping with a skid that almost slammed herself into him, she saw both Renji and Aaron-Chad in his clutches. Flicking their bodies with an effortless show of force, both were tumbled in unconscious heaps. With Aaron-Chad's one-armed state bloodied and bruised while Renji's now Bankai deprived blade barely held in his grasp bled out in the sand.

"I see your strategy," Ulquiorra he spoke directly at Nelliel, his glare of anger apparent as much as the annoyance edging his voice. "You wanted to Reject the Phenomena of Ichigo's injuries in hopes of allowing him to gain more strength. Such an occurrence transpired already to bring him back from death and fight Grimmjow, as he wanted, allowing him to best him at his peak. Considering how this place ended up, it is likely he had this done to him again after battling whatever forces Aizen had left. Now you wish to use this power once more to awaken a greater power than earlier. Unfortunately for you, I have no intention of allowing any of you to complete this task."

The sound of an arrow sang out, alerting the Espada to an attack from behind. His wing batted it effortlessly away from his head, not even needing to turn his head to know where it was intending to strike. When the Quincy appeared above his head, he pulled back the bowstring of Reishi and charged his Ginrei Kōjaku.

"**Licht Reigen**!" Uryū shouted as he unleashed a storm of Reishi filled arrows, all potent in their own right. As they cascaded across the sand to create a storm cloud of blue and white, Nelliel propelled past the now defending Ulquiorra to Orihime's side. Setting him down before her she raised her lance up as she looked back at her.

"I know you want to help but focus on protecting him," She told the young girl who hesitantly nodded at her. "We'll do all we can to buy you some time. Make it count."

* * *

Ichigo blinked, realizing he suddenly wasn't in immense pain or sudden jerking motion. Looking around he found his perspective flipped and his stationary placement of footing was on a horizontally aligned skyscraper. Clouds filled the sky, rumbling and crackling, threatening to break what little peace has befallen this world of his own making. But then, he remembered he wasn't alone.

Turning to look over his shoulder, he half expected to see the Old Man standing atop an unremarkable sword perch. Instead, it was a bleached inverse of himself, lazily leaning back while looking up at the sky. His feet were kicking idly and his breath coming out in exaggerated sighs of impatience and contempt.

"You-!"

"_**Yup. Still here**_," Ichigo's Hollowfied self interrupted in his usual eerie, distorted echo of his own voice. Despite Ichigo's alarm and his grip on his sword, the Bankai clad spirit had no intention of moving from where he was. He kept staring upward with an almost bored look in his eyes. "_**Damn storm's ruined my view. Can you do me a solid and just hand me your body if you don't want to die? I'd hate to lose my only chance of freedom to slip away just now**_."

He instinctively flinched and took a step back on the irregularly placed skyscraper. The last time he lost control he was completely conscious and he felt like he was on auto-pilot. Worst, it took away what pride he had as a warrior and an individual he had, only fueling his loathing for the being he was. Yet, even as he stared on, the paled copy just look back with a grimace of annoyance that was almost just like his own.

"_He's been saving me ever since the beginning. My powers came from him just as much as it has from the Old Man_," The young man concluded as his stare returned to a determined glare and his stance strengthened rather than cowered. "_He may piss me off and be greedy for control, but everytime he had I was in a place way over my head. Byakuya would have killed me if he hadn't taken control. I don't know how strong Yammy is but if the fight kept going on, Ulquiorra most certainly could have killed me. Did he know how strong my enemies were and kept me out of harm's way? Has he been protecting me this whole time while feeding me the same old story?_"

"_**What are you here for, **_**King**?" Doppelganger asked the Shinigami bodied man before him, leaning his hand into an open palm with a mixture of annoyance and boredom.

"I have some questions for you," Ichigo finally spoke, his tone serious as was the visage of his face.

"_**What do I look like, Customer Support? Go bug someone else with**_-"

"Number One," He kept speaking, much to the pale man's chagrin. "If I'm just a body to possess to you, why have you been protecting me from the very beginning?"

The question was enough to shake the confidence in the apparent Hollowfied being before the young man. If only for a few moments, his face was full of shock and eyes widened. Turning it into one of humorless disbelief, he raised a hand as he replied, "_**What makes you think I give a damn about you? I'd sooner kill you than protect your sorry ass**_-"

"I've been thinking and it makes too much sense," The Substitute Shinigami continued, not allowing the rejection to be fully said by the inhabitant of his soul. Pointing his finger he jabbed at his face from where he stood, not moving closer or backing away as the words came from his mouth. "Your power was always there, backing me up or letting me survive. Even back when I first fought Renji, your power allowed me to survive and numbed the pain when I should have been overcome by it. And every time my wounds should have killed me your mask was always keeping me safe.

The only time you possessed me was to keep me from dying. I realize that now with Byakuya that I shouldn't have been able to beat him the way I had. And even with Yammy, Ulquiorra could have easily killed me back in the World of the Living. You knew I was outmatched so you kept me from fighting," Lowering his head to look down at the ground, seeing his own reflection on a window before his feet. Blinking at it he sighed heavily at this new revelation he had come to. As much as he wanted to not acknowledge it, the truth was there. Closing his eyes, he looked up and opened them as his now lowered hand gripped tightly at his side. "You helped rekindle my fighting spirit, reinforce my resolve and kept giving me strength every time I fought whether I lost or won being irrelevant."

For the first time Ichigo had known him, his paled reflection seemed to look grimly solemn. Staring back at him with a layer of mystifying seriousness while also guarded with a veil of contempt. He had no idea what he was thinking right now other than he was taking his words with the utmost seriousness. Even as the Inner World's skies roared with thunder and cracked with lightning, he kept silent as the lightning overcast them occasionally with every now and then crack electricity surrounding them.

"_**So, what do you want, a cookie**_?" The Hollow asked in a bemusing grin. "_**I want you strong so you are worth taking as my own. Isn't it obvious? I wouldn't want to take control of someone so weak. The better the prize the more its quality becomes apparent. I don't give a damn about someone unless he benefits me. And seeing you're the only bastard I have contact with, it seems that my sight of you is simply out of selfish desire. That's all**_."

"Is that right?" Ichigo inquired with a sardonic smile of his own.

"_**Afraid so**_," His copy replied with his grin still retained.

"If that's the case...then why bother trying to get me to call you Zangetsu," The orange haired man insinuated, this time wiping the smile quickly from the Hollow's face. His own smile diminishing, he knew that his next question was something he came up with the answer on his own. He just wanted to hear it from the source. "Which leads me to my second question. Who are you and, who is the Old Man? If both of you calls themselves Zangetsu then I get the feeling someone is lying to me. So I want answers. Now!"

"_**You know you could die if you keep hanging around here**_," The Spirit commented, looking up at the storming sky. "_**That Arrancar's going to rag doll your unconscious body before he drills a Cero between your**_-"

"ANSWER THE QUESTION, DAMMIT!" Ichigo roared out, his voice piercing the sound of the thunder surrounding him.

Sighing, the Inner Hollow rose up and faced Ichigo. Taking strides towards him the look of anger seemed to permeate his overall stoic visage. Such countenance was only broken when he was within arm's length as an arm was pulled back and thrust to punch Ichigo in the face. The fact that he saw his punch halted when Ichigo grabbed the wrist before the knuckles could find purchase against his face only made him angrier.

"_**Get out**_," The Hollow snarled. "_**I got nothing to say to you**_."

"No!" The Shinigami barked back, holding back the powerful arm with his own strength. "I want answers! Now!"

"_**You really think that after all this time I'd just answer that**_?!" His other self countered, wrenching his hand from the Shinigami's grasp. Dryly chuckling, he sneered as he pointed at Ichigo, his eyes full of anger as much as his voice contained. "_**You're such a dumbass to be led on a leash. Just because a guy tells you he's your Zanpakut**__**ō you're just going to buy it? Didn't you once thought it was strange how he knew everything there was to the Soul Society, to Zanpakutō techniques and then just happened to be hiding me behind his man-skirt? No Zanpakut**__**ō born outside of the Soul Society would even have an inkling as to how things work there, period!**_"

The confirmation was damning. The man he assumed was Zangetsu was just someone posing as his real Zanpakutō. The person whom he acknowledged, sought out as a mentor and a confident this whole time was a man draped in black with eyes hidden behind a visor. The fact his own powers seemed to not reflect the image of the one who pretended to be and instead was the one known as a Hollow always felt off.

Then again, there was that one time when he first met his mirror image that now echoed in his mind.

"_Now you shall have a test whether or not you are able to wield me, Ichigo. If you want to return, first you are to take me from _yourself."

"Tensa...Zangetsu," Ichigo spoke aloud, his eyes regaining focus and staring at the still begrudging entity. "That's your real name."

"_**No shit, Sherlock**_," He snarked back with a sour glare.

"So, my Shinigami powers were always Hollow by nature," Ichigo stated aloud.

"_**Of course. Why else would you only be taught one technique that releases absorbed Reiatsu through a sharp blade? Plus, it's the only technique I've ever known so what else is there to teach?**_" He asked rhetorically with a waving gesture.

"It's the only one?" The strawberry haired man asked with a few blinks of almost disbelief.

"_**You only need one to beat all others**_!" He proudly puffed out his chest, thumbing it with an odd pleased grin. "_**I mean, if you can't beat them with Getsuga Tenshō, you can always just cut him till it dies**_."

"Uhh...fair point," Ichigo relented with a sheepish chuckle. "I don't think I could get around to practicing a complicated technique. Then it'd really take me years to use it."

"_**Yeah, you are kinda dense like that**_," The spirit laughed, though in part was to the Substitute's Chagrin. But it was enough to get him to laugh slightly at himself, if only for the fact he knew he wasn't that smart about things of this nature.

"So...now that I know," Ichigo led on, his disposition now retaining a bit of a seriousness to it. "I was thinking instead of me borrowing your power, you could lend it in full-"

"_**You want me to possess you?**_" Zangesu interjected with confusion.

"No," He answered with a shake of his head. Stretching out his hand towards the Hollowfied Zanpakutō he smiled sincerely at his spirit. "I want us to fight as partners."

For awhile, the Hollow Zanpakutō just looked at him with confusion. He had expected a demand of more power or him to sway to his mastery now that he knew the truth. Instead he offered a hand as if he was calling him a friend. It was a rare feeling, something he himself hadn't known since his conception.

Looking up at him with a serious expression that mimicked something akin to one of Ichigo's, he inquired, "_**You trust me to fight with you. A partner. Just like that**_."

"This isn't me just blindly following the words of another. It's me making a decision of my own accord and placing experience as a foundation for my trust in you as justified," Ichigo declared aloud, his eyes gaining a tint of hidden anger behind it as he finished speaking. "I'll deal with the Old Man later, but right now, I want us to work together. I can't do this without you, Tensa Zangetsu, and I mean it!"

"_**Heh, if you want me to hold your hand so much we might as well be dating**_," Zangetsu joked, enjoying the look of irritation on the Shinigami's face. Despite that, he reached out and clasped his palm with his own. As a result, the storm-filled world became charged with a brilliant surge of light that wiped out the world and became filled with just the swirling energy enrapturing the two of them.

"_**Now, let's kick this guy's ass!**_"

* * *

"Now, that was valiant," Ulquiorra declared, his body unmarked while his opponents looked ragged and beaten. "If not entirely pointless. What can I expect from so-called rescuers of such trash, anyways?"

"Bastard," Uryū snarled out loud, taking a step forward as his own left arm had been torn off during their battle. Pulling out a Seele Schneider he used Hirenkyaku to close the distance between them, swinging it at the Arrancar's face. "Don't underestimate us!"

"Or what?" He inquired with a bored tone, mocking him as he used his tail to punch his chest before slapping him across the face. With teeth flying out of his blood spewing mouth, the bespectacled man was sent flying head over heels before crashing near Nelliel's four-hoof feet. Turning to see the former Tres Espada panting as she received bruises and cuts along her centauress form, he asked with a tilt of his head. "Next?"

Grimacing at her condition and the enemy's taunt, she resisted the urge to turn to look over at Orihime and Ichigo. She knew based on Ichigo's Reiatsu that it was still faint. She had a lot to recover for him and time they didn't have. No matter how strong she had become this was just damage inflicted on a scale they couldn't prepare for. Pulling back her lance, she threw it with a heave, sending it spiraling once again at her enemy.

"This again," He sighed aloud, his hand reaching out to flicker it back with a Bala explosion like he had before. During his focus on that, she used Sonido to appear to his right. What he saw this time caused a momentary spike of alarm. A rosy colored crackle of erratic Reishi didn't need to tell him what she intended to use.

"**Gran Rey Cer**-" She began to chant until he reached out and caught her hand, twisting it with a vicious snap. Letting out a scream of pain as her hand was broken, he followed up with a punch to her abdomen that made her bowl forward to her knees. A kick to her face opened a gash on her cheek as she was sent, out of her dematerializing Release Form no less, crashing next to Orihime. Gasping for air, her vision fogged as she saw her look between Ichigo and the now fading Tres.

"It seems this is the end for you," Ulquiorra stated to her as he took haunting step after step to stand over her. Pulling back an arm, he coldly finished as he thrust downward. "Farewell, _comrade_."

The sound of glass cracking and a rush of wind was heard. His eyes blinked to see the shield had stopped his assault, triangular in shape but orange-gold in hue. Turning to see Orihime stopping her recovery of Ichigo's Reiryoku, her sweating forehead depicted the stress of moving her spirits so fast and making a barrier in such a time. Still, with a yanking motion, the light cracked into dissipating fragments and left her completely defenseless.

"You can't even stand the sight of me killing someone you barely know? You're as naive as the boy," The Arrancar growled, his hand now pointing to prime a Cero. Black as night that ebbed a turquoise hue, the Cero Oscuras began to ramp up power as he intended to obliterate his ex-peer. "Watch closely as the one person who's left to stop me disappears."

"_**Don't you dare!**_" A voice, guttural with menace and raw of hatred broke through the air. A sudden bristling of light followed by the rise Reiatsu that made the ground thunder. When all turned to gaze, a pitch black mantle of energy ebbed from Ichigo's face as he slowly stood up, hair lengthening from his scalp till it touched down to the lowermost part of his back. With only the cuffs of his sleeves restored, crimson tufts of fur now behind adjoined with it. Skin as white as chalk took up his complexion now devoid of injuries along with a hole at the center of his upper torso, with black markings spread up and over his shoulders. A mask fully formed that now had a similarity to his old one but instead had a pair of arching, forward facing horns. Golden eyes shined through the slits and clawed feet to fingers flexed, sword in hand now wildly glowing red along with his whole body. As his words came out, they were hollow, rough and legitimately terrifying to hear. "_**Get away from her, Ulquiorra!**_"

"I-Ichigo," Orihime stuttered aloud as she looked up with stark surprise and horror at what he looked like. The fact he had a hole in his chest petrified her. Had Ichigo completely gave himself into Hollowfication, like her brother?!

Nelliel couldn't have been more surprised than Orihime, just unable to rasp out a breath to call out his name. Her better, however, simply stared with his own brand of surprise. To feel such a tumultuous presence rise up and almost a completely different Ichigo come forth wasn't anything he expected. The woman hadn't been there long enough for the human to regain his powers. No, this was something completely unprecedented.

"Your power feels different than before," Ulquiorra declared, now feeling the signature had shifted from simply two presences to a defining singular one. It was the same presence he had felt back in the World of the Living, back when Yammy and himself had encountered the Substitute Shinigami. The flux of power had two different energies like when Ichigo used his mask before, but now it seemed it was stabilized and only dependent on one source. "I feel only one source of strength. Where is the other? What did you do?"

"_**Last chance**_," Ichigo took a step forward, his growl bearing menace as he stared with purpose at him. "_**Step away from Nelliel!**_"

"And if I don't?" He asked daringly, retaining full confidence in his abilities.

That was, until Ichigo bent at the knees and leaped forward. The streak of momentum that carried him was enough to cause the Arrancar to take a step back and nearly get cut down the middle. The force of the sword swipe was enough to collapse the body of sand, cleaving it down the middle and creating a thirty meter long fissure where it separated and became a dark crevice that deepened long down to the Menos Forest's canopy.

In his haste to backpedal, he saw that Ichigo had scooped Nelliel under arm protectively. Glaring at the man, he could only watch with annoyance as he was able to deposit her next to Orihime.

"_**Thanks for what you did, Orihime,**_" Ichigo thanked her, his Hollowfied voice still raspy but holding the same compassion that his friend knew all too well. "_**Please find the others and tend to their wounds. I'll handle this now.**_"

"O-Okay," Orihime nodded, feeling slightly less afraid. Despite appearances, he seemed like the old Ichigo she adored. Watching him turn his back she could only stare at the hole that was prominently displayed. Looking down at Nelliel, she just wished he didn't have such an ugly scar while fighting for the sake of protecting them. "Please be careful."

"_**No promises**_," Ichigo he growled, earning a shiver down Orihime's spine. "_**I intend to kill this guy**_."

As he spoke that, the familiar thrum distantly sounded the ignition of Reishi. Seconds later a column of thundering darkness raced towards Ichigo, Orihime and Nelliel. Not even with an ounce of hesitation he swung his sword in a straight line upward, cleaving the attack in a straight line, making it peter to the side at an angle with only a fraction of its power remaining intact. With only traces of turquoise Reishi flames flickering across the bed of sand between Ichigo and Ulquiorra, the latter stared on with wordless shock while the prior growled aloud.

"_**Now it's my turn!**_" He howled out, leaning his head forward and began prepping his own attack. A loud revving was sounded as a spiraling ball of crimson colored Reishi rapidly expanded till it was of a substantially large radius. Yelling out as he unleashed it, the Reishi clashed with a follow-up Cero Oscuras that Ulquiorra generated in his defense.

A glorious fireball was created when the two opposing Reishi collided, sending out an air popping shockwave between the two. Waves of sand elapsed as the flames burrowed deep into the bed and burned its way to the canopy's top. As smoke billowed upward, Ulquiorra flew upward, astonished that his Cero was cancelled out.

Ichigo kept up with his enemy, leaping upward and preparing another Cero to fire at his target.

"There you are," The Espada sneered with his arm swiveling around to gesture at him. A crackle of black Reishi and another Cero Oscuras flew forth, crashing into Ichigo's. Just as before another mighty cancelling blasts of power detonated before his eyes. Unable to question how such a thing was possible, he felt a rush in the air, surprising him he didn't feel the man sneak up behind him. An iron grip was felt on his wing just before a painful separation was felt from both it and his left arm, causing both appendages to fall to the grained earth along with its owner.

Crashing to the ground ungracefully, he slowly pushed himself back up, panting slightly from the agony of two lost limbs. Ichigo simply stared at him in the sky, daring him to make the next move. Letting out a groan, his arm and wing came back in a wisp bout of shadow made flesh. Shrugging off the injury, he stood back up and stared back at his enemy from the distance.

"You surprise me, pretender, that in order to become victor you'd sacrifice your own humanity for the sake of killing me. A brave attempt if not utterly foolish." Ulquiorra clasped his hands together, creating a turquoise gleam of light before spreading it either direction. Creating it is a double-edged spear of Reishi, hissing in the air before the Arrancar like a mesmerizing weapon of fiery illumination. "**Lanza del Relámpago**. With this next attack I'll ask you to stand still. I rather not unleash this at close range."

Flipping it around in a one-handed grip he gave it a good toss, sending the whistling missile aiming straight at his head. With Ichigo leaning slightly to the left, it easily avoided him by passing over his shoulder, its whines echoing into the far beyond as it sped beyond sight. What happened next cause him to look over his shoulder with shock. An explosion of upward blasting Reishi flew up into the starless sky, blasting away what looked like a cityscape of sand and sending a hurricane's worth of blast wind with sand flowing towards them like a raging tide.

"_He did that with one attack?_" Ichigo thought with surprise as he turned to look down at his stoic opponent. With renewed determination, he gripped his sword tightly. "_Doesn't make a difference. I'll just have to cut him down before that thing makes contact with me!_"

"Sorry, I'll try again," He whispered aloud in mock apology, his hand unfurling enough to create a new one in the blink of an eye. "It's such an unwieldy attack that I hadn't realized my aim was off. This time will be-"

A sudden buzzing sound permeated the air just as Ichigo disappeared from his sight. Turning to look over his shoulder his mouth was agape as he realized what happened within his own mind. He slipped completely past his gaze and by extension evaded his Pesquisa. He didn't use Shunpo to do it; it was a Sonido!

With a short burst of movement followed by the slash of his sword, a collision of titanic proportions was felt as the sand blew back from their exchange. Skidding back on the soles of his feet with his hand locked on his weapon he found himself on the receiving end of a charging Ichigo. Spinning his spear around swiftly, he began parrying the Hollowfied Shinigami as they began to do battle. Each and every time they traded blows Ichigo managed to get a kick in followed by a punch. Some others that slipped in were a slash to his face through the eye and another across his arm and then a leg. Even amidst combat he continued to regenerate effortlessly, never slowing down in his attempt to fight his aggressor off.

Performing another Sonido of his own to gain distance, he held his weapon with one hand until he saw his opponent disappear. Looking around to where he could be he suddenly heard a loud crack. Shifting his person to look towards one of the pits beyond his scope, Ichigo hauled up what looked like an enormous segment of the crystalline tree that had collapsed in the forest below. Hurling the building-sized formation with a single hand it moved like a catapulted artillery round.

"Like that's going to do any damage," He murmured aloud, thrusting his spear forward. Watching it shatter into dust he was so fixated on his own action that Ichigo diving at him didn't occur till nearly a second too late. Bowing his body back he could feel the air part before the black tip that narrowly missed the bridge of his nose. Twirling his lance around he moved forward to stab him in retaliation. Met halfway, Ichigo's free hand grasped the weapon's tip, causing a chaotic crackle of force between his fingers. "Impossible! You're holding it with your bare hand?!"

Not answering other than pushing the weapon back before crushing it in his palm, causing a dispersal of air around them. When the sand parted, Ichigo's mask parted to reveal his open mouth, his eyes glowing with sheer menace. The Arrancar gasped just prior to Ichigo slashing down at his torso, taking the upper half of his left adjoined horn with the swipe. As crimson jetted out of his chest he fell to the ground limply just as Ichigo charged a wafting amount of Reiatsu into his blade.

"Not allowing me to recover are you? How very Hollow of you," He remarked with a still voice, watching his enemy coldly stare him down.

"_**I'm not taking any chances**_," Ichigo stated with hatred lace around his words. "_**Now this is for my friends, and Nelliel, you bastard! **_**Getsuga Tensh****ō**_!_"

In a single wave of towering midnight dyed Getsuga, an explosive sphere of burning Reishi filled the entire vicinity between Ichigo and his opponent. The detonation sent a blistering wind that stung Orihime's skin as she continued to restore Nelliel's health. As the dark light that dimmed the moon's rays died down they could see from the distance that the violence had finally closed.

The battle, had been won.

* * *

**A/N**: Whew! The Chapter is finally done, as is Ichigo's climactic battle with Ulquiorra!

What's that? Aaroniero is still not around? Given her character is kind of, well, evolving I think it is warranted she stay out of the grand picture. All the hard work she put into keeping a low profile would be kind of wasted if she just Leeroy Jenkins the whole deal, now wouldn't it?

Other than that, I had a lot of fun reliving this reimagining of Ichigo vs Ulquiorra. From their dialogue back and forth to Ichigo's epiphany that led to his confrontation with the "Real" Zangetsu, I hoped you all enjoyed all of this development I'm giving to the other Main Characters and periphery support cast. Despite Aaroniero being the secret main character and hero of the story (_hero_ being defined in the loosest term) I like the cast of BLEACH and I want to give them all as much of a proper due as possible.

And before you all ask, no, Renji's Bankai isn't vaporized. He planned to let his enemy blow back his Bankai segments, just like how he did against Byakuya's Shikai. Hence why Aaron-Chad was hiding inside the raining fragments to get in a sneak attack. I loved sneaking that bit of genius in, even if it was for naught.

Anything else? Ah, I guess that's it. Next Chapter shall be more or less a transition from this Arc's closing and the entering of the next hurdle; the Fake Karakura Town Arc!

Expect GREAT THINGS I'll be doing there. Sadly that will mean Aaroniero will be not around for the next couple of Chapters. But have no fear, she will make an appearance in possibly 3 if not 4 chapters at the latest. She is not one to be kept out of the spotlight even in her undercover role!

With that being said I want to take some time and thank LastationLover5000 for helping me proofread and correct mistakes where seen in this Chapter. Had it not been for my friend I'd be having some mess I'd mistakenly overlook. Again, thank 'em and go ahead to the portfolio of stories that he's got in the works!

Until then, I bid you all farewell and hopefully you enjoyed reading this Chapter. See you all again next time in _A Predator Among Us!_


	13. Advance to the Battlefield

**Blind are the masses**

**To whom your threat lies**

**While one Devil slew**

**Another lurks among your crew**

**Beware the Predator**

* * *

**Chapter 13 - Advance to the Battlefield**

* * *

It was quiet.

The scene of an enormous detonation of excess Reishi had split the sandy sea apart, leveling its grained under bed till a generous hole had formed within the Menos Forest's canopy. Steam still rose up from cooked beads, the air a miasma of heat and ozone. But from within its epicenter revealed not one but two figures.

One held the other by the throat, clad in ragged onyx apparel with chalk complexion that was accented by striped lines of the abyss to be parallel with a horned skeletal mask. The red tufts around his neck and wrists symbolized an almost barbaric warrior tribute, giving the honorable man of noble qualities a true decadent visage. With sword in the free hand clenched tightly, so too was the other set of digits clenching mercilessly at the still throat.

Such a neck belonged to the Arrancar, one who did not look so different from his once Shinigami opponent. One horn had been severed while the rest of his body had been marred by the wave of heat and spirit energy. Eyes hidden by the bangs with a mouth slightly agape, his remaining right hand and leg didn't even as much twitch. Burns charred his left side completely giving him the look of a cadaver yet to be deposited in a tomb.

With a dismissive toss, Ichigo deposited down the hole he had crafted. Not one to admire the handiwork of his power, he turned and zoomed straight to Orihime's vicinity. When his feet touched the ground he saw Nelliel's injuries all but disappeared. He sighed a ragged breath of relief as the light was disappearing. Looking over at his friends behind her, they too were recovered but still unconscious. Smiling be hind his mask he turned to look at her and noticed a twinge of apprehension on her brave face.

"_**Oh, sorry**_," He spoke in a graveled voice, his hand reaching up to unmask himself. "_**I guess seeing me like this is still a bit jarring**_-"

It wasn't until he felt his wrist caught by her hand that he looked at her with surprise. Her brows were knitted into a face of determination. With her free hand she reached out and hesitantly placed it over the painted outline of his hollow hole. Her breath hitched and her face softened, her head leaning in to press against his chest. The steady beat of a heart was lacking and as she deduced he truly was heartless in this state.

"_**Ori...hime**_?" Ichigo asked with a quizzed expression behind his mask.

"I can't hear your heart," She whispered, looking up with tears welling up in her eyes. "But...I can still feel the warmth coming from your chest. You...you really are Ichigo."

"_**You're not making any sense**_!" Ichigo barked, his eyes glaring at her from behind his mask, his sword hand flailing with confusion. "_**Of course I am me! Just because I don the mask of a Hollow or have a hole in my chest won't change what I am**_!"

Giggling, Orihime wiped her eyes as she embraced him fully, her face now a flushed grinning expression as she nuzzled into the crook of his neck. Despite the man remaining tense for a moment he slacked and smiled behind the mask. Using his free hand to hug her middle he could hear her breathing with relief by his ear.

"I was worried that you wouldn't be yourself," Orihime explained in a hush tone, holding her dearest friend and unrequited love in her arms. "Forgive me for being so silly."

"_**Nothing to forgive**_," Ichigo replied gently. "_**Your faith in me is what keeps me going, grounds me and reminds me who I am. No matter what form I'll take, I'm still that guy you know in high school. I'll always be your friend**_."

It was then that the pang in her heart gave her a mixture of conflicting feelings within her chest. Even as she held the man she felt dearly for there was a part of regret; a part of her that wanted to scream to him how much she cherished him. While he thought of her as a friend she wanted more than that and felt just as strongly for him. The once resigned part of her now was subdued for her strong attraction.

"_**Uh, Orihime**_?" The Hollowfied man asked with a tilt of his head. "_**You going to hang onto me for much longer**_?"

"Just wait."

"_**For**_?"

"I...I need to tell you something important," She let out with a ragged hitch in her tone, emotions threatening to come out the flood gates. Opening her eyes, she caught the sight of Hueco Mundo's moon in the night sky. Shivering as she spoke, a single silhouette caught her eye as the words fumbled out. "Ichigo I...I..."

"_**You**_-?"

"-...Ulquiorra?!" She gasped, just in time for the ignorant Substitute Shinigami to feel a sudden pulse of Reiatsu.

Turning on his heels he held onto Orihime tightly with one arm, pulling her tightly to his chest. Using his sword arm he swung it at a lance of Reishi zooming towards him, black meeting turquoise. The result was a shattering shockwave, the result of which a partition of the weapon streaked out and managed to blast close to his head. With enhanced reflexes he leaned to the right, only receiving a loss of the mask's left horn along with a gash to the jaw.

The result had caused the rest of his Hollowfication to destabilize and with widened eyes, the Reishi dispersed before swirling straight back into his chest. Breathing raggedly with shock, he looked down and saw his normal complexion along with a less detailed Shikhakushō in tatters still clinging to him. With a single cut dripping of blood to his left cheek he looked up with a glare and saw his enemy, still breathing despite what he had felt moments ago.

"I swore I felt your Reiryoku plummet just a minute ago," Ichigo growled as he held his blade upright in a defensive posture. Orihime looked on with fear and shock but couldn't help but feel safe in the man's strong grip. With eyes that blinked at him she saw what he did; a frail shadow of his former glory.

"I must have been too stubborn to die just then," The Cuatro Espada declared in a firm monotone, refusing to acknowledge the damage that had taken place. At least, on the outside. Within he felt as if half of his organs were vaporized, leaving him internally struggling to keep together. If anyone could eye the stumps of his left limbs they'd view nothing but branches of shadow were hanging or resting on the sandy bed limply. His eyes stared coldly ahead, while only raising one remaining wing on his right side. "Unfortunately I must have received that annoying trait from you, Ichigo Kurosaki."

Gritting his teeth, he thought of donning the mask once more to eliminate him. But as he looked on he didn't even see a threat. From the way his Reiatsu felt, the enormous presence was sacrificed for one last surprise attack. It was barely there from what his Reikaku told him.

He was a dead man walking.

"To think I'd be reduced to this state," Ulquiorra closed his eyes as he breathed out with a smooth exhale of annoyance. "You infuriate me, human. The idea you embraced Hollowity yet kept your soul intact is nothing short of blasphemy."

"Who are you kidding yourself?"

It was those words that made him open his eyes, looking on with surprise at Ichigo as he listened to his enemy speak.

"Arrancar? Shinigami? Quincy? It's all bullshit," He declared pointing his sword with emphasis at him. "I've fought quite a few of all the above. Do you know what I've found out? We're all the same. Despite all that talk of duty or instinct or living the way you're told is just crap. We have ideals, morals, identities and experience emotion no more than the other. Not even you, mister empty, is exempt.

"You hated my guts to the very end, and were obsessed with the idea of what a heart is. Guess what? You can never see or grasp it because it is the thing that just brought you back from the brink. You, a man who said you're the embodiment of emptiness, had a will so strong you refused to die until you found your answer," Lowering his sword down, his pointed glare made the broken Shinigamified Hollow look down in thought. "Isn't that right, Ulquiorra?"

A quiet breath was released from the Arrancar as his head bowed. For awhile it seemed like he wasn't going to move, let alone speak. But then, surprisingly a slight emotion was finally expressed on his permanently stoic visage. A smile, one of resigned submission and admittance was revealed that made even Ichigo look on with surprise with Orihime.

At the same time, his wing began to wither, splitting apart while turning into ash. Like a cancer it spread down slowly to his back, his left side beginning to shift into the same substance as his protruding appendage did. Despite all of that his expression was held strong as his words came out, with eyes becoming a solid green instead of a shimmering yellow.

"The fact you can see something in me what my eyes can't is just absurd. You and that woman have baffled me from the start, but only now do I realize why," He almost whispered, his words coming out with no hint of remorse or fear. Reaching out with a hand as if to grasp a hold of something, he watched with a flicker of light in his eyes as the fingers began to dissolve down his wrist. Locking eyes with Orihime he kept his gaze even as his form began to be erased. "It's such a pity. Just when I find the essence of a heart in my grasp...I lose form. What a strange thing..."

Evaporating into the wind, the ash of his remains fluttered away, leaving the pair to ponder his final words and let his passing truly sink in. But one thing did cement their victory in this desert world was clear. The Cuatro Espada and last Arrancar defending Las Noches, has truly fallen.

* * *

Byakuya found her. The body of Rukia was retrieved with her Zanpakutō from the enclosure of a liquid filled flower. Endowed with lubricant of a pungent yet sweet smelling fragrance she still had a steady pulse and her Reiryoku seemed to be unwavering. Whatever had caused this incident to befall his sister was deduced to have done something similar to Lieutenant Sasakibe.

But the absence of his remains made him believe the creature was still lurking in the shadows.

Leaving Isane to do a thorough check on her unconscious frame to ensure she wasn't ill or had something festers within he checked the perimeter with the others. When no other Hollow was in sight for a good distance he felt something off. Regardless, he did feel a measure of relief outweigh the regret that the missing Lieutenant indeed had met his untimely demise. The report to the Captain Commander truly will be a regrettable one.

Returning to her side, he silently watched her rise up from Isane's proximity, raising a hand to clench her scalp. Groaning she looked around to see a tearing up Kiyone and Sentarō lean closely to smile with happiness. Momo sported a grin of ecstatic glee while Nanao simply remained inwardly relieved. Seeing the group of faces made a startling warmth of joy bubble within her as well.

"Hello," She lamely said, laughing nervously at all the attention around her. "I'm sorry I troubled you all-"

"We were worried sick, Miss Rukia!" Kiyone adamantly said as she leaned a bit too awkwardly close to her face. "What happened?! What did the monster do to you?!"

"Monster?" She inquired with a lean of the head.

"Yeah, this creepy flower was holding you hostage," Sentarō expressed with a hand gesture of a bulb shaped plant. "It was weird and you were inside. Good thing it didn't, er, digest your clothes. Hope they aren't too wet, haha!"

While Kiyone chastised her fellow third seat for the possibly lewd comment the raven-locked woman looked down at herself. Her shapely form was still embraced in the Shikhakushō and desert wrapped cloak. Damp over her skin it made her shiver but not in a unpleasant way. The sight of nothing seeming to physically change about her was intriguing...and pleased her secretly within.

"Are you able to stand?" Captain Kuchiki inquired as he looked down at her from behind. With her eyes fluttering and looking up with shock at the older brother she dumbly nodded in return. Closing his eyes he nasally exhaled and turned his back at all of the officers including his sister. "Do keep up. We're going to meet up with Captain Kurotsuchi and the Substitute Shinigami to devise a way to enter the World of the Living. I wouldn't want you to be left behind, Rukia."

"Y-Yes," She replied with a firm expression of acknowledgement. Standing up, she felt surprisingly light on her feet. The Reishi flowing through her body was far more composed, natural and hers. As everyone looked on with acceptance she was alright, they all began to play catch up to Byakuya's superb bursts of Shunpo. The shaving of space left only small imprints of their form as they moved rapidly out of the Menos Forest to the desert sea above.

All the while, a subtly grinning Aaroniero Arruruerie couldn't help but wonder why her feelings came as a shock. Either she was such a talented actress at this moment she could easily fool them. Or more disturbingly, she was starting to embrace her own absorbed identity far too well. With a mental shake of the head she dismissed that as a hinderance. The only thing left now was to return to Lord Aizen's midst...and cherish the look of shock on his face when she reveals her true colors to him far too late for the mastermind to react.

"_Soon, I'll be without equal and my ascension will be perfect!_"

* * *

It didn't take long for everyone to awake and get moving. The fact they had passed out from the pain of their injuries came as a surprise as none. What did surprise them all was Ichigo's new look. While he retained familiar spiky tresses of orange color the bangs and flecks of hair were quite longer around the brow or ears; in addition to a waist-long smooth curtain of dyed follicles caressing his backside over the shoulders.

"Stop staring," Ichigo grumbled with an annoying twitch in between a high speed leap.

"It's just so...so...gorgeous!" Nelliel squealed with a star-eyed expression, one that made him feel uncomfortable and uncertain.

As the Arrancar seemed to be in awe and captivated by his long locks, thanks to his previous Hollowfication, the sight of Renji and Uryū snickering couldn't be ignored. Even the barrier sailing Orihime couldn't help but stare with a blush on her face at the long hair flowing behind him. All of it was unwanted attention thankfully not added by the ever-silent Chad flickering along side them.

"It's not like I asked for an extension in my hair," He huffed with a roll of his eyes.

"Well-Well, it seems you really got in touch with your feminine side, Ichigo Kurosaki," Uryū mocked with a faux analyzing attitude. To boot he adjusted his glasses in between a Hirenkyaku, making him scowl at his disappearing and reappearing face.

"That, or you decided to become a hardcore rocker," Renji jeered toothily, causing Ichigo to outright snarl with annoyance.

"How do you even know about rock music?! And I am not!" He retorted back brashly with a threatening upright fist.

"I don't think it really matters either way," Chad replied with a raised thumb's up. "I stand behind any fashion choice Ichigo has, tacky or otherwise."

"...that's not helping me," The Substitute mumbled with a deflated countenance.

"It's not so bad," Orihime tried to assure him, smiling as she held her hands up near her beaming face. "Now we have matching hair lengths, I can help you find ways to style it along with mine! It'll be so much fun!~"

"Wheeee," He droned on as he hung his head down with agony.

"You know I could cut it for you, if its that bothersome-"

"Stay away from my scalp, Uryū!" He snapped quickly while holding his head with emphasis. "I get to choose what I do with it. Besides, my living body has short hair, so this isn't even a permanent thing. It's not like my long-hair of my Shinigami body will automatically make my real one have hair like this anyways...right?"

"Who knows?" Renji mused with a dry expression.

"Oh! I bet Tatsuki would love to see your hair if you keep it long in school!" Orihime squealed with glee.

"LOOK! ANYTHING BUT THIS TOPIC NOW!" Ichigo exclaimed as he finally stopped moving swiftly, followed by everyone else coming to a halt. Breathing a sigh of relief he also saw the conglomerate of Shinigami was accompanied by Rukia. What he raised his eyebrow at was a monstrous loaded cart being hauled by an effeminate Arrancar while being pushed by Nemu from behind. "...what did I miss?"

"Captain Kurotsuchi decided to raid the late Espada's lab for things he can salvage for his own uses," Rukia explained with a rise of her shoulders before lowering with a shrug and a shake of the head. "Honestly, I have no idea where the Arrancar he's got came from, so you should ask someone else about that."

"Uh-huh," The young man turned to look at the three, noticing Mayuri was sitting atop the cloth wrapped cargo. With his cobra-headdress strapped around his head he looked like some self entitled king rather than the head of a science division. Staring blankly at the scene he just shrugged himself at it. "Whatever floats his boat."

"Speaking of which," Rukia began, her face trembling with a barely controlled sputter. She pointed while holding her mouth, just as some of the other officers began to snicker and giggle at Ichigo's expense. She, however, was the only one voicing it. "Why the long hair, Ichigo?"

"I Hollowfied and my scalp decided to lengthen several fold," He replied blankly with a twitch to his right eye. "How about, we drop the subject here or I'll just stop talking to any of you?"

"H-Hey, no need to be ashamed," She defensively raised her hand as she pulled her composure back together. Tilting her head side to side she admitted with a smile that surprised herself. "It's not that bad. I may start to like it, with time."

With raised brows, the Substitute blinked with surprise before it dispersed into a relieved spread of his lips, "Heh, if you say so."

"If you're all done talking about fashion," Byakuya coldly interjected, looking at Ichigo and then the other officers. "We have the issue of transportation. Currently Sōsuke Aizen is assaulting the World of the Living's Karakura Town...a city that we replaced with a mock duplicate to prevent him from creating the Ōken."

"You did WHAT to Karakura?!" Uryū cried out, now being the one to react more brazenly than Ichigo's own eye-bulging stare. Even the officers, along with Renji and Rukia, looked on with an aghast expression.

"Stop panicking you lot," Mayuri chastised from above his steep perch, turning to look straight at their midst over his shoulder. "The Twelfth Division used the R&amp;D Department's resources to create a perfectly stable environment to preside both in the World of the Living and the Soul Society. All humans are rendered unconscious so they should be unharmed in the space we placed them in, despite retaining physical bodies."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Renji asked sharply at his Captain.

"Captain Commander Yamamoto ordered this to be a secret only to be known by a select few individuals," He coolly informed them without batting an eye. "Given how easily Aizen had been able to outmaneuver us within his initial betrayal, we split up our forces to convince him that we were under prepared. He along with the bulk of the Gotei 13's strength are protecting a duplicate that will retain its placement so long as they keep fighting."

"How do we get there without Kisuke's Garganta?" Ichigo asked.

This followed by a slap to the back of his head, causing him to whip his head around to look at a pointed glare by Nelliel.

"You really forgot I was still standing here?" She inquired with a scowl, hands resting atop her hips.

"Uh-Uh, no?" He answered with a distracted smile.

"If you need a way to the World of the Living," She informed, turning to extend a hand towards the space in front of Mayuri's cart. With a twitch of her hand, space shifted and then split apart, opening like a row of blocky teeth. Before them now was an abyss with a faint light at the end of the tunnel of darkness. "I can deliver."

A loud harumph could be heard by the cart straddling Captain, muttering under his breath how he wasted time and effort to copy the technique more scientifically. Regardless, the path was now open to all of them with only a minor tweak set by Nelliel to open the gateway a semblance of distance away from the city. If they were to take advantage of arriving late, they may as well do it as a surprise.

"Very well then," Byakuya declared as he took the lead towards the black gateway. "Let us go to this Fake Karakura Town and reinforce their efforts."

"Yessir!" Renji, the officers and Rukia all answered unanimously. As the Captain began entering to create a path for them to walk behind him quickly, Ichigo took the time to briefly pull aside Rukia. With only a few hushed words spoken and a look of understanding shared between them she'd join the rear of the rushing officers while he lead those who he called friends.

Treading through the darkness, Nelliel caught up with Ichigo while Orihime sprinted with Uryū and Chad.

"Are you alright?" The Arrancar asked as Ichigo flashed a smile to dissuade her concern for him.

"I'm fine, really. Orihime managed to help restore my Reiryoku back up after my Bankai was torn. I'm going to keep my power suppressed in the meantime so I can save up my power for Aizen," He declared casually.

"You intend to fight him?" She queried with a wary tone.

"Yeah," Ichigo answered readily, his features becoming firm and determined. "He hurt Rukia, intends to destroy my home and even kidnapped Orihime. I'm going to make him pay with blood for everyone he's hurt and bring him to his knees. That's the least he deserves for what he's done."

"You should know then," The former Tres Espada elaborated sagely, bringing his attention at the fullest to her. "That his greatest strength isn't in his combat ability with the sword, spell or speed. His Zanpakutō is what has bound us Espada to him as much as it entangled his enemies of the Soul Society. Did you ever witness him release it before your eyes?"

"Huh," Ichigo soaked in what she said while looking up with a furrowed expression. "No, he didn't even bother. I guess I was so beneath him, exhausted I was as he was strong, to have him use it. Never even heard him say its name."

"It's Kyoka Suigetsu," Nelliel answered in kind, looking at him seriously. "It's his greatest power, apart from the Hogyoku. If you let him release, no matter how strong you are, the fight will be over. It's flawless hypnosis and will break you if he wishes it. So promise me whatever happens when you fight him do not let him release or look at his sword."

"Trust me, Nelliel," Ichigo assured her with a smile as he looked forward down the long dark path. "It's him who should be worrying about the last look of my sword, before I run it between his eyes!"

* * *

**A/N**: And done! Wow this was shorter than usual. Not much happened but a lot of set-up is built into the next section of my story. The Redux of the Fake Karakura Battle (also known in Canon as the Gentleman's Fencing Sport). Some even called it the, "White War," but I don't even qualify it even being a war. So I'll do it justice. What does that mean for the narrative? Expect there to be a small gap of time between when Aizen sealed off Hueco Mundo and when Nelliel opened a new Garganta (expect it to be close to where the Fake Karakura is)...so, maybe 3ish Chapters before we see the main cast again? I'm sorry if I disappointed you Aaroniero fans (after all this IS an Aaroniero story) but I'm a man who likes to go the full nine yards and not take shortcuts. In this way, I'll show a genuine battlefield and the chaos that goes with it. I hope you'll stick around long enough to see its conclusion and Aaroniero's arrival with the other Shinigami.

Until then, see you all later! ^^


	14. Sorcery and Armies

**Chapter 14 - Sorcery and Armies**

* * *

The path was a long dark one. For the likes of these travelers it'd take little time to be transported to their desired destination. The eerie emptiness of an eternal black was pierced by a door on the far horizon. White cloaked persons finally drew to a slower gait, approaching it with dignity and professional calm. Breaching through the white door way, one hand slid over the surface, causing bars to rise as much as they fell. Their eyes hardly blinked as the Sun of the Material World came into focus from the grips of the Garganta's crooked mouth.

But not just any sunlight, but that of Karakura Town, the World of the Living's most spiritually ripe ground that Sōsuke Aizen has set his eyes upon. That is, if this truly was the plot of spiritually enriched land he was seeking. With a sweeping look one could immediately tell it was exactly like the human inhabited city. But with his experienced gaze and senses, he could tell just as his two commanders could that one foreseen possibility had come to pass.

"So, they did it, after all?" Sōsuke Aizen queried aloud in a rhetorical fashion, his eyes closing with a sigh released from his nostrils. "Well, this just pushes the timetable back by an acceptable margin. We'll still make do."

"I sense no humans lingering about," Kaname Tōsen graveled out with a clear tone of displeasure, blind eyes furrowing down with a look of disdain. "But I also cannot sense the Shinigami. What is the meaning of this?"

Only Gin Ichimaru could laugh, a thin smile stretched passively over his face as his chuckles caught the attention of his peer and superior, "It seems we've fallen into a trap."

Before even what his colleagues could ask what trap he meant, a pulse of force was felt by their feet. While it was initially heavy and constricting, the two men flanking their leader were able to leap to the side at the last instant. Within the center was a flashing cacophony of rays mingled of multifaceted hues that entwined, pulled and swirled around the infamous usurper's form. With eyes widened with surprise they slowly became calmed when a hint of a smile of contentment was felt. Not even his words could be heard as his whole form was enveloped and then trapped within a suspending prism of glowing refracting hues.

"Lord Aizen-!"

"-looks like he was the primary target," Gin finished Kaname's sentence, much to the latter's chagrin. Choosing to open his azure eyes to lock onto the now shimmering silhouette that came from behind the collapsing Garganta the former Captain couldn't be more pleased. Either that or his ability to mask his fear was stellar compared to his comrade's cold indifference being mingled with contemptuous rage. "I assume you're the one who tried to seal us with Captain Aizen?"

"Unfortunate," Was a simple word echoed by a low, smooth voice. A rattling clank as if striking wood despite it being the sky itself, revealed the figure in question. An eerie wind blew back a fog of vapor, layering the figure with mystery as the apparel draping around it gave one a look of regal importance and ceremonial protocol.

Thick open sleeves of violet-black and cobalt outlined on the surface of a sweeping robe. On the shoulders wore a pair of onyx pauldrons of gleaming half moons with one open eye on the right contrasting the closed one on the left. A square straw hat to obscure deep lavender eyes with barely visible olive complexioned skin with a strong jaw and nasal structure, hidden behind a black veil outlined by purple with prayer beads as large as a man's hand wrapped around the neck.

With a standard monk staff in her right hand, only one delicate hand held the intricate ceremonial tool utilized by only one known user. "I had intended to capture you both with that spell, one of which I assure could entangle the Captain Commander. A shame I had to focus much of my power in just subduing him, though the effort was worth it."

"That voice...is that a woman under all that drab garments?" The silver haired man inquired with a wolf whistle. "Man, no wonder you caught Aizen by surprise. You were so undetectable, my man Kaname couldn't even feel ya. And believe me, he's good at that too."

"Don't rub it in, Gin," The dread-locked commander sneered as he withdrew his sword in a smooth stroke.

"You intend to fight me?" The robed woman declared without much movement on her part. Hidden eyes glared at the pair with a sharp observation. While the slyly grinning man made no threatening gestures it just made him more cagey and dangerous. The other had drawn his sword and seemed to be inclining his head in different directions. Neither seemed to pay attention to the floating crystal seal that kept their superior suspended in the air. "Or are you simply stalling to find a way to free your master?"

In an instant, they moved without bothering to retort, having given no indication they would prior.

Gin's sleeve barely moved as a blur of steel flashed forth, crashing into a swiftly erected barrier. The edge cracked its center but didn't move any closer, giving way for the sorceress to simply gesture at the suspending square of transparent emerald. Flying forth like a cannon shot wall, it was enough for the gray-tress commander to vault over it in a bout of dexterous motion. As he rose up at a higher altitude, the Shinigami's colleague made his own move with a semi-circle of blades manifested around his middle.

"**Suzumushi Nishiki: Benihikō**!" He intoned gravely, swinging his blade to send a chorus of wide sweeping blades. What made the Kidō Master more curious was the sight of it not being shot directly at her but in the distant horizon. She noticed that it was also laced with a silently laced spell, using it to be guided and accelerated to the far-off area.

She had intended to stop him, until she noticed the shine of silver bearing straight towards her head. Twisting her staff around to catch the hyper extending blade while side-stepping away, she evaded without injury but her hat was shredded off her ebony colored hair letting loose into a braided ponytail; one that that billowed out before every band after one foot with purple rings till the last bit rested upon her calves. As it was tossed into the wind, her violet eyes were seen glaring at the Shunpo employed Gin that appeared with his weapon retracted.

"**Tenran**," She exhaled, her veil lifting up to show pursed lips spewing out a torrent of wind that blew back a surprised Gin. On par to that of a hurricane it blew even Kaname back several dozen meters with his sprawling comrade. As they began to get their bearings in the unforgiving spell, she swiped her stave into the wind, unleashing a blue flame to spread widely thanks to the prior Kidō utilized. "**Sōkatsui!**"

"**Bakudō #71, Kensho**," The blind commander chanted aloud with clasped hands, rapidly creating a palace keep with hues of sparkling gold. It enraptured the pair within its epicenter, as the violent waves of fierce fiery wind corroded it, already cracking the infrastructure within seconds of making contact. With a sweeping hand gesture, the two were enveloped in darkness, leaving the crumbling palace as it was burned away by the power of their enemy.

They'd reappear seconds later as the Garganta Kaname opened and closed reopened not too far away from the robed woman.

"To think you have enough skill to cast spells that can stand against my own speaks volumes of your skill, Kaname Tōsen," The veil-faced woman acknowledged with a turn to look at them fully with staff in hand. "Though I did not know you have the power to open Garganta. It also is telling of how far you've fallen, errand of justice."

"I will not be lectured by a woman whose purpose is to be smothered in darkness, never to see the light of day unless brought out like a collared animal," The Commander of Aizen's Army declared with a sneer. "But of course you'd speak in such a pretentiously omnipotent manner. It's only fitting for someone who can command spells of such power while barely uttering a word. You really are Captain of the Kidō Corps, the newest replacement are you not?"

"To fill the void left by my predecessor was a daunting task, but one can accomplish much with a hundred years of dedication," She acknowledged with sober words, her eyes turning away to observe the distant horizon. What was once a serenely quiet visage of the World of the Living's duplicated city was now visibly surrounded by four auspiciously immense towers. Scowling she returned to look at the blind-man once more whom seemed to bear a taunting smile on his face. "So, that was the purpose of your earlier technique. You silently employed Shou to speedily launch your attack too fast to be deflected and hit the desired targets you were looking for."

"You forced our hand when you camouflaged the entire city, including its defenders and yourself. Not even my keen Reikaku could detect the environment," Kaname explained as he raised his sword upright, his body producing a potent Reiatsu from his form in the color of bright opaqued purple. While his comrade simply stood to the side with a silent smile, the dread-locked visor-adorned Shinigami swung the blade down in a bold proclamation; cemented by his quiet words. "Now that I've found our primary targets, all we need to bring the Reishi infused land back to the World of the Living is to destroy these towers."

"**Kagizaki Tenkyū!**"

With the latter words spoken, the Kidō Captain witnessed an enormous sword shaped tear within the firmament of the heavens above the city. Splitting open, an immense release of Reiatsu followed by the roars of many billowed out and shook the sky. Descending from the opening was the masses of Hollows, numbering in the likes the sheltered Shinigami had never seen before. Ranging in all shapes and sizes, grotesque in every way imaginable, the entities flowing down in a swarm that could be mistaken for blotted clouds.

Swinging her staff up to cast a spell, she was suddenly attacked by the blind man up front, forcing to employ Shunpo to avoid his thrust while she deflected a blurred form of Gin that came in from the side. Her blunt tool parried the pair's choreographed attacks, working in synchronous pattern with each other to push her back with swordsmanship alone. But while her hands were occupied, the rest of her body was still available.

Blowing out from her mouth through the veil's rivulet, a Sekienton cloud of crimson smoke clouded the air with spell cast gas. In the midst of their harry of attacks Kaname found himself surprised when he witnessed her form vanishing within the fog, just as Gin halted his own attack as the Bakudō spread around them. A palm thrust at one while the staff swung at the other, producing two simultaneous effects.

One caused Kaname to be wrapped in a constricting film of crimson light by the swing of the spell's catalyst. With a downward turn he'd be hurtled downward till impacting the ground far below with a destructive impact.

The other was Gin being pushed back by a jolting shockwave. His body thrown with the push of the kinetic discharge wasn't able to halt his momentum after half a minute. By the time he reacclimated himself he noticed he was a good kilometer away from his opponent; an observation that made him whistle lowly, "Phew, you sent me a good ways. Nice work, Kidō Captain."

"**By the light of the ether, swim forth in a furious torrent. Constrained not by time or age, leap forth and obliterate. Beseeched by the anchor of the present, I pull forth the chariot of the beyond**," The Sorceress declared as her clothes billowed, burning by the light of a chorus of crackling mantle of electricity. Just as the first wave of Hollows descended upon her altitude, aiming specifically for her delicious amount of Reiatsu, she raised the staff upward with a violent snap. "**Hadō #88, Hiryū Gekizoku Shinten Raihō****!**"

An ominous thunderclap would follow the light show that'd come. A bright flash of azure bordered white ripped across the skyline, tearing the flesh off Hollows before their bones were reduced to ash. Despite the horde's giant mass its vanguard were ripped apart by a surge of lightning that spelled forth doomed for thousands in a single erect line. Within the tower of Reishi that was cast, it funneled into the gateway itself and eliminated all of the approaching Hollows.

But the bulk of the Hollows had yet to be routed and still came in droves.

"_I'm sorry, Captain Commander_," She apologized mentally, her mind stretching out to one particular individual hidden within the cityscape of their large trap. "_I can't manage more than a single spell of this scale at the moment. Aizen's Commanders are sure to come back with retaliation_."

"_Do not worry yourself, Tanrei Kakushi. You've done a commendable job, sealing our enemy's general and occupying its commanders. If you can keep them distracted, we will dispatch the army while it is leaderless_."

Kidō Captain Kakushi could only solemnly bow her head at this comforting thought. The fact she had succeeded in her gambit to seal Aizen at all was comforting. He was the real wild card in this whole war they were intending to fight. With him out of the picture and their commanders focused on her, she'd do all she could to best them both to the utmost of her ability.

As Gin and Kaname, both none worse for wear, came back to bear upon her she released a mighty gale of Reiatsu as the pair once more engaged her in combat.

"If I am to fall," Tanrei declared, swinging her staff to clash with both of their blades, a vicious glare aimed at them. "I intend to take you with me!"

* * *

Just as before, an enormous swarm of Hollows descended down from the sky. With familiar destructive forces combating nearby, they'd ignore what was before it and home in on the structures below. With only a mind to scour out and destroy all that stood to the outskirts where the towers stood, they'd complete their objective less efficiently but quickly if none opposed them.

Unfortunate for them, they had more than enough to contend with.

Within the center, a film of invisibility was lifted, spreading out to show over two hundred Shinigami with weapons drawn and their officers possessing released Zanpakutō. From sickles and chain, to axes, to erroneously long Nodachi or Zanpatō they possessed a wide variety of melee types. At the forefront of these combat specialists, of course, was the Eleventh Division's pride and glory, Kenpachi Zaraki.

"YEHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! IT'S LIKE A BUFFET OF BLOOD AND GUTS! EAT UP EVERYTHING YOU CAN BOYS, CAUSE I INTEND TO FEAST FOR A WEEK ON THESE SMALL FRY!" The 11th Division's Captain declared in a raucous shout as he bowled through dozens of Hollows, swinging his blade with precision and empowered by maddening blood fury. Just like he had spoken, blood and flesh spewed into the air, dissolving after the severed limbs or body parts were sent sprawling from dying, maimed or killed Hollows. With their Captain occupying up to hundreds of them with his attacks, the Officers were led beneath him and stayed in an upright formation resembling an arrow that attacked the surge Hollows.

As the numbers piled up in the thousands, many Hollows spread out to split away from the mountain that was being annihilated.

"Oi! They're getting away!" One Officer declared with annoyance.

"Hold your position!" Ikkaku declared as he swung his three-part pole in an eloquent dance of bashes and cutting jabs. "We're here for a reason. Keep the horde funneling at the center. The other Divisions will handle the rest."

"B-But what if they all start running away?!" Another Unseated member declared as he tackled one worm-looking creature, ripping it apart with his impressive strength.

"Then we shall look beautiful when we cut them down from behind," Yumichika declared as he fluffed his hair as he slashed more with his own uniquely shaped blades. "Just keep close to the Captain until we're ordered otherwise and we will be guaranteed to kill many more."

Before another could retort, a giggling pink-haired child seemed to vault weightlessly from shoulder to back and then to shoulder again. With the wheel-attached sealed sword being held by a strap, she swung it around like a blunt whip, crashing into the masks of many Hollows within reach. Without even drawing her sword the munchkin showed why she was the Lieutenant of the Division and how she stayed ever-so closely to her father figure.

"Look Kenny! I've got so many already!" She piped up as she fired off a series of kicks on a crying Hollow's face, smashing its mask to pieces.

"Keep up, Yachiru," Kenpachi let out a barking laugh as he stabbed one through another and then tore through its grey matter till he unleashed a fissure of yellow to obliterate another line of unfortunate targets. "I'll get three times your kill if you're not careful!"

"Not! For! Long!~" She sang out as she kept swinging her sheathed sword around to batter more entities within reach.

* * *

The bloodshed continued, but the masses indeed spread out. What new foes awaited them would only make them regret their mistake of departing from the city's center.

"Sir! They're coming this way!" A messenger Shinigami announced, departing as quickly as he came as hundreds of Hollows approached to the western side. From there lied two Divisions in particular. The 10th and the 7th. With the horde's detachment being at its bulkiest during the movement, they utilized park clearing as a gathering point for their enemies to gravitate to while the middle school was occupied by a number of Kidō Corps and Kidō fluent Shinigami.

Once they got close, a barrage of firepower after incantation was released at the first line of abominations. Red cannon balls, blue gouts of flame and azure lightning bolts lit up the sky, forcing a great deal of them to either evade to best of their ability or become grounded. Some slithered swiftly and others embedded into the earth or darkness. Drawn in close they'd be met with the nasty surprise of the strongest members of their forces.

"**Tengen**!" Sajin Komamura shouted as he swung an ethereal giant arm across the close ranks of Hollows, not even scratched by the Kidō crossfire that connected with it. The blade's immense length swiped at the horde moving towards them. Alternating between using various body parts to keep them at bay with relative ease due to their collective strength being not withstanding and the support fire of Kidō from below. His other Officers were on stand by, awaiting the moment any Hollow passed through or tried to sneak up.

Lieutenant Ibe had a solemn look of duty that steeled himself in the face of so many enemies, reinforced that his Captain would see them through this battle.

"**Reign over the Frosty Heavens, Hyōrinmaru!**" Cried out not too far away, followed by a large wave of ice cast by a sword stroke of the released Zanpakutō of Captain Hitsugaya. The young prodigy had cast a storm cloud above their heads, manipulating the weather to make an optimum condition to use his power at a lower level. Despite his cautious behavior he knew he needed to give it his all to prevent the wave of Hollows from spreading beyond this western perimeter of the city's center.

Rangiku had released her own ash cloud form of Haineko, allowing the minute grains to carry the multiplied impact of her sword strokes among a large berth. Every slash of her blade as it swept in the wind cut down many Hollows in her vicinity, one in a while mixing her technique up with a physical jab, a Shunpo and a Kidō blast of her own. Holding her own relatively well within the park as trees were shattered or uprooted, the howling wind of weather based attacks sent by the Captain at the forefront who aimed to kill as many without catching his men in the crossfire.

"Don't worry about us, Captain. We'll do what needs to be done in order to win this war. Make sure you do this same without hesitation."

She remembered speaking those words not but hours before the mission. With hundreds of Hollows within arms reach, she knew that even the lowliest of scum could get in a lucky hit. But if they maintained formation as the Captain Commander planned, they just might make it without a high casualty rate.

"_Hopeful thinking coming from an old traditionalist. I wonder if its that strawberry's fault_," Rangiku thought with a wry smile in the midst of battle, garnering the idea that the Substitute Shinigami had influenced their superior in ways he had yet to understand.

* * *

Hollows swept across the land in opposing cardinal directions as time went on. Despite the vocal shouts and cacophony of explosions occurring in the sky from the battle of the Kidō Captain and Aizen's two Commanders, the horde kept pushing on. While the Eleventh Division stood their ground and kept swathing through hundreds, the other tens of thousands had not just moved west but also north, east and south; some even swept around the perimeter of the center-west battlefront.

It was up north, occupying an abandoned hospital replica, was the camouflaged members of the 4th Division. With its members tasked with moving under the cover of Kidō given to them by the Kidō Corps they'd take any wounded they are able to reach and bring them back for emergency medical treatment. Under Unohana's watchful eye, they'd be seen that if they are capable of fighting, they'd rejoin the war effort.

Despite Hollows seeming to sweep the land in multiple directions, the vast majority were too caught up with the center with three fully functioning Guilds operating there.

"Remember! Be prepared to enter the thick of it at any given moment!" Yasochika Iemura, the third Seat declared to his team while Unohana just stared out the window. Even as the monsters crawled up the infrastructure and curiously peered in, they wouldn't see a single Shinigami that nervously glanced back at them. Passing on the Officer continued to get them steeled for the future. "Remember, the Gotei 13's lives are in our hands! We will save them if we can! IS that clear?"

"Sir, yessir!" Cried out the Shinigami, even Hanatarō's shaking leaf frame. Despite himself, he was still feeling afraid. But he slapped his own cheeks and looked to his Captain's stoic frame for inspiration.

"_We'll do our best, for the Captain_," He thought with a brave smile.

* * *

"Here they come," Omaeda gulped, grouped up with the Patrol Corps gathered around their seemingly rotund and bumbling leader. Discreetly they were hidden in the shadows in the east. The sheer mass of them was intimidating even to him, who had done his share of Hollow slaying. He never saw so many in a single spot before; he just hoped he'd do a good job and not get berated by his superior. Unsheathing his sword, he gallantly declared as planned to get the eyes of Hollows aimed at them. "HEY! LOOKING FOR US!"

With a good number of Hollows descending down upon them, he instantly released Gegetsuburi. Swinging his flail he crashed through a good few of them before his Corps began engaging them outright. Better handled at more frontal confrontations he was used for bait as the combating Hollows lured more and more till the eastern surge bore directly towards them.

The new 3rd Seat, Sayuri Mai, a brunette with a sleek metal mask in the form of an open oni jaw with a body conforming suit that hugged her curvaceous and generously scaled chest had the task of supporting them once they were on the ground. With nothing but metal gauntlets wrapped around her hands up from the elbows, she leaped forth like a streak of night, smashing the vital points of many monstrous creatures. Corpses dissipated seconds after her rampage ensued along with the rest of her Detention Unit followed her example.

The Fourth Seat, Banfeng, head of the Espionage Unit kept watch from the shadows for anything unusual. His crew were meant to scatter around the Fake Karakura Town, using special metal swords to conduit their transmissions far more effectively within the heat of battle. Using this they could gather intelligence and new data as it sprung up over various battlements set up.

The Inner Court Troop, commanded by 5th Seat Jirai, kept sending urgent messages directed by various other Divisions. While the secret intel provided by the Espionage Unit was to be shared with only upper ranked officers and Captains, their task was simply to inform and spread the word over immediate developments. Staying out of the fight as much as possible, they were to help keep stability in the chaos of the battle.

Suì-Fēng herself led the Executive Militia, those of ninja attire and completely secretive. Using their advanced prowess in Shunpo and Hakuda, they would strike silently within the flanks of their enemies to create undue confusion among their enemy. The Horde wouldn't have any idea what was hitting them until it was far too late. Between her silent approach and utilizing the two other Corps to distract them she could fight within the shadows with her colleagues as much as she pleased.

"_Keep this up, Omaeda_," Suì-Fēng thought as she cast a rare glance and a subtle smile as she cracked the neck of a behemoth proportioned Hollow. "_And I may actually compliment your credible use on the battlefield_."

* * *

Down South was an assemblage of forces. Along the railroad tracks, led by Jūshirō Ukitake, rallied the 13th Division without its two 3rd Seats while holding the 6th Division's entirety within its ranks without its own Captain or Lieutenant to be commanded by. But given the 13th's superior being charismatic and compassionate, they rallied behind him well enough as the horde came upon their ranks. Using a combination of Kidō barriers, sharpshooters and melee specialists they were able to hold a decent formation while drawing in the enemies below into their midst.

Those that didn't take the bait flew straight towards the park bordered tower, concealing the Kidō practitioners that kept it shielded and guarded all the same.

Seeing this, Shunsui tipped his hat up as he stopped leaning on the tower. The line of Hollows was an assuredly nasty thing for his trained eyes to see. Salivating, snarling and making their iconic howls in that echoed one after another was something he never cared to sense. Looking to his 4th Seat, Rokuō, a lovely blonde with generous assets and a released sai in her grip; with her attention gained, he mentioned Tatsufusa Enjōji, his 3rd Seat, with a casual wave of his hand.

"Keep an eye on him. Don't want him getting riled up and charging the enemy too soon. We're protecting after all," He mentioned as he began to walk forward, away from his men and the tower.

"W-Where are you going, Captain?!" She inquired with a bubbly, nervous voice. It was then she was answered with the form of him drawing his long sword of the two katana he kept sheathed. The fact he only drew one puzzled her, and then she understood. "Captain-"

"I'll only be gone for a sec, darling," Shunsui waved with a flirtatious grin, just before he blinked out of view. Suddenly, the cloud of advancing Hollows seem to explode into a shower of gore and body parts. Not but several seconds later he was back, not a fleck of blood on him as he sheathed his sword. Shrugging with a wry smile he nodded to her as he went back to lean on the tower. "See. Only a sec."

"Then, why did you even bother to...to...UGH!" Flabbergasted she turned around in a huff to return to a waiting position. She had a feeling the fighting was far from over and that this was just the tip of the vanguard. When the enemy shows its true forces, then even they wouldn't be left out of the chaos.

* * *

The Northern Front was one with two purposes. One was the protection of the Northern and Eastern towers respectively, with only a small detachment of capable officers to join up with skilled members of the Kidō Corps backed up by the Onmitsukidō. The other was to be the only assemblage of Shinigami that lacked a Captain. But it was also the largest gathering of able bodied men and women at the forefront.

Among them was the 3rd, 5th, and the 9th Divisions of Shinigami who were bereft of Captains who turned traitor. Eager to prove themselves despite the scrutiny they've faced since the coup placed months ago, the 3rd Seat of the 5th Division stayed back among the Kidō Corps as a defensive party while the two "Substitute Captains" took their men to form their battleground. With the horde strewn across the sky and the earth, rampaging towards them, Izuru could only sigh with a weary smile.

"It seems we get the hardest job, don't we?" Lieutenant Kira queries his stone faced colleague.

"Doing what? Killing Hollows? It's not like we haven't done it before," Shūhei Hisagi retorted with his thumb pushing the blade out of the sheathe, but not quite unsheathing it. He wanted to be ready but not too eager; being bloodthirsty wasn't in his nature, just like enjoying battle wasn't in Izuru's.

"I mean we're the strongest Shinigami here. Without Captains, I think the bigger numbers doesn't nearly compensate for that power loss," Izuru answered with a solemn tone.

"I don't plan on dying to foot soldiers," The Lieutenant sneered, his teeth grit as his hand gripped the handle of his weapon tightly. "Not until...I've shown _him _the error of his ways."

"Ah," Izuru sighed with a smile, unsheathing his own sword slowly as the first line of Hollows neared. They'd surely arrive at any moment as his revealed eye looked up at the monsters calmly. "It's unfortunate that I don't have your zeal of reuniting with my departed superior. If he didn't even bother telling me what his aims are, I'm sure he has no intention of talking it out or let alone have a heart to heart with me. I envy your strength, Shūhei."

"At least that makes one of us," He grimly muttered, leaping up with a preemptive Shunpo to perform an Iaido slash upon the first Hollow across his eyes. Even as blood flared up he coldly moved onto the next monster and then the next. With his sword cutting them down next to his blonde haired friend, they'd concentrate on the bulk and only let the stragglers come to the gathering of Officers and Unseated members.

None of them would even let them get near the tower. Not until stronger enemies breached their perimeter; something both Lieutenants wanted to avoid if they could help it.

* * *

In the vicinity of the Western Tower stood the most competent member of the Kidō Corps under the Captain, Lieutenant Ryūten Kyōkō crossed her legs in a passive stance of meditation. The sheer chance of them being attacked was nary compared to the easier targets of interest but she wanted to be sure. Unlike her predecessor she wanted to not be fallen to a Hollow virus by becoming targets of a conspiracy.

The younger woman was draped in a violet colored Shikhakushō, its deep hue revealing her allegiance to the Kidō Corps as a high ranking officer. Sleeveless up to protective bands around her elbows and Sun emblazoned dark gloves around her hands, she'd wear nothing else other than a loose fitted black high collar coat with the mark of the Sun among clouds on its back. Her pale complexion with blue eyes was complemented by pair of half moon head pieces keeping her dark green hair in a pair of curled twin-tails laid over her shoulders.

"_Not to mention_," She inferred as she felt a bead of sweat crawl down her neck at just feeling a certain man standing in front of the tower's wall with a cane gripped with both hands. "_The Captain Commander chose to stand _here _of all places. Anyone attacking this tower has a death wish if they assault him outright. Not sure if he'll save us if we get ourselves killed but...Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto has a reputation of slaying for over a thousand years. No one can match him in conventional combat, let alone his ruthless tenacity_."

She had wondered why he didn't bring the 1st Division, said to be the strongest Shinigami of all skills and abilities, to the battlefield. Reasoning would conclude that he left them to guard the Seireitei in case enemies tried to take advantage of the combat placed here. It'd be even more likely that, with the military's bulk holding elsewhere, the Academy students would be kept under protective quarantine within the school grounds while Noble Houses mobilized to help establish security further. It was only through her studies that it'd be the most thought out way of keeping peace and defense while the army was used in war.

With the sounds of her superior clashing with the enemy's commanders it took all of her composure to not look up, let alone attempt to leave her post. The woman had helped nurture her talents and had chosen her to be her Lieutenant from being a lowly unseated member. One hundred years of her council had led her to this very battle, one the Kidō Corps had experienced in centuries.

"_Please survive_," She prayed beneath a grimacing visage. "_Lady Kakushi..._"

* * *

The battle raged on as all fronts combated the enormous body count of Hollows. Shouts, explosions and the dead piled up even from the skyline view of the cityscape that many had to contend with. Only thanks to strategic planning and the leadership of the Captains to Officers stationed with hundreds of unseated members did they keep the staggering death toll largely on the abominations and less their own comrades.

It was a feeling that gave Tanrei hope and courage to keep fighting her current opponents.

"HRAH!" She let out a shout as her stave slashed into Gin's blade, releasing a compressed blast of Kidō in a flare of rose hue. Sending the grey-haired man reeling back she twisted her blunt instrument around to block a handful of sword swipes aimed by Kaname, utilizing a bout of Shunpo to appear above him and unleash a barrage of Shakkahō. With his own quick muttering use of Haien to abolish the group of cannonballs, he received a surprise crack of the staff in his backside. Crying out with pain he grunted as he somersaulted across the air before rejoining Gin in a speedy charge.

"Secret Bakudō," She murmured as she spun her staff around, creating a perfect mirrored surface that reflected the space of both Commanders crashing their blades against it. When the appearance of both Shinigami was reflected, they leaped out with the same ferocity and repelled both men back with a shower of sparks from clashing steel. Duplicated in a sense they mirrored the exact same power and reactions as they did, one could only stare at the mirror that now was angled in their direction. "**Daienkyōchi**!"

With a mere glance aimed at each other, Gin smiled as he parried with his copy and moved in the opposite angle to round away from the mirror's gaze. Simultaneously Kaname whispered his release command, "**Cry, Suzumushi**," and unleashed a high pitched chirp that rendered his copy unconscious before he could do the same.

At the same time, Commander Ichimaru side-stepped a vicious stroke towards him while also extending Shinsō to lunge at the Kidō Captain. To his surprise the blade simply bounced off as a purple wreathed Reiatsu overtook the mirror erected and a distortion wave of pressure passed by both of them. It was alarming enough that the aforementioned Captain took up a posture just as his comrade did, as an explosive blast of blackness overtook their vicinity.

"**Hadō #90, Kurohitsugi!**" Through the growl of the enormous erecting a towering coffin, a thuum of power resonating as it easily dwarfed the size of Aizen's own casting on Sokyoku Hill. Standing just a handful of feet away from the deep onyx laced prison, she only had a few seconds to observe before a glint of metal flashed before her eyes. Her Kidō suddenly became shattered and blown away, revealing a smiling Gin with his blade held at his side with an entertained glint in his blue eyes.

"You shattered my Kidō," She observed aloud in a calm tone, not betraying the level of surprise and fear she felt in equal amount.

"Don't act put out, Miss Kidō Captain," The Former Captain remarked with a casual shrug, waving his sword for emphasis. "It's not like I did it without effort. I even went to the trouble of releasing my Bankai to break it. After all, had I not seen the spell myself when Captain Aizen used it I might not have been clued in on what you were planning."

"You really are a terrifying man, Gin-" Tenrai began to intone, breaking off as the familiar ripping sound commenced from behind. Turning around she swung her staff around as she backpedaled, feeling a bite of pain across her midsection before she saw the blade. To her credit she had cracked her instrument across his jaw, evoking a gasp of pain as blood flecked out with spittle from the man exiting the Dangai. Reaching up to immediately place a sealing barrier across her open wound, sewing it shut while also ceasing the bleeding. She grimaced with aggravation more than the flesh wound she received. "As are you, Kaname Tōsen."

"I had intended on cutting through your spine and sever you from the waist," He growled, raising a hand up to feel the bruise that had formed across his face from the impact. "Your reflexes are above what I'd expect from a Captain of the Kidō Corps. You continue to surprise me how you can hold your own against the two of us."

Silently stewing at her predicament at having yet to do a single credible thing to truly halt their progress, Captain Kakushi began scheming a new plan of attack. As she did so a rumbling roar was heard along with an ear grating rip. All three combatants turned to witness a Garganta begin to emerge along the horizon, this one seeming to dwarf the sky emergence that Kaname had been responsible for. A single figure walked forward, eerily moaning out as he looked over his shoulder.

"_An Arrancar?_" The Kidō Captain thought as she saw the long-sleeved uniform wrapping around the mask fragment crown on the blonde boy's brow with eerie rose colored eyes. An immense purple claymore latched onto his back that was longer than he was tall. With what lurked behind him was what sent chills down her spine. A complete unknown and gargantuan in sheer mass. "_W-What is that thing?!_"

"So, he brought his pet," Gin commented with a chuckle. "That kid sure took his time getting here..."

"It can't be helped. Hooleer is a cumbersome creature that can't be rushed," Commander Tōsen replied casually as a calm smile stretched across his face. It widened when he saw the look of stark alarm on his opponent's face. "Do not worry for your sake. Hooler won't target you, nor will our comrade Wonderweiss. They're practically inseparable when together."

The grey-skinned creature with Gillian masks for finger nails and an enormous glowing yellow eye looked so enormous that it looked like only half of his body stuck out of the Garganta, clinging to the sky for support with Reishi. Disgusting convulsions wracked its body as its body compressed and billowed, soon showing bulges across its form. When a large mouth opened, a pool of blackness dropped from the sky onto the ground below to form a sea of ichor. Within it were the masks of dozens of Menos, their pointed noses acting like pyramid crests as they began to swim around. Erecting, the skyscraper Hollow amalgamations presented themselves with a chorus of thunderous roars as they turned towards the south and west towers.

"_It puked up Menos?! This creature must be stopped-!_" She thought just before witnessing another surprise slash by her enemy. Parrying the blunt tool she noticed Gin didn't even bother intervening this time. Turning to face Kaname with her hands gripped over her staff, she felt as much as saw a sudden cacophony of dark doorways open across the model city. Fake Karakura was holding its own against the Horde, but now what appeared out of every door from oblivion's fore came white cloaked figures of similar Reiatsu all across. "_It's not just them...the Arrancar have arrived as well!_"

"Be still, Kidō Captain," Kaname whispered, his blade pulling back as she withdrew with a backpedal as he raised his blade's hilt next to his cheek with his other hand posturing next to its raised edge. "I'd rather not take too long. Lord Aizen demands a satisfying victory and I shall give it to him."

"Not before I annihilate you both, traitor!" Tanrei Kakushi declared as her body became a glistening halo of light. Reiatsu swirled around majestically as her pauldrons glistened upon her shoulders, soon departing from her person to combine in a metallic circle behind her head. An audible clack and click later, the disc spun wildly until it produced a lunar disc of light that hovered behind her. With her robes enamored by her luminescence, hair waving with animated motion, and eyes becoming a pupiless violet as she held a lunar glowing staff before her enemy. "**Tsukuyomi!**"

* * *

The journey ahead felt abysmally long. Despite Ichigo's desire to make haste walking through an empty void wasn't something to be done lightly. With Byakuya at the head of the pack, with a trotting Crisol and Nemu behind holding the enormous cart full of scientific plunder that Mayuri sat atop cross-legged. The other officers ran ahead with Renji at the back, just up ahead of Aaron-Rukia, Ichigo, Nelliel, Aaron-Chad and Orihime...along with the two Fracción of Nel's.

"Why didn't you guys just stay behind?" Ichigo inquired dryly as he looked behind at Pesche and Dondochakka. "You know we're heading into a warzone, right?"

"Where Nel, goes, so do we!" Pesche responded seriously, his zeal felt through his mask in the open dim air. "Even if we have to fight Aizen's army, we'll stick by her side no matter what."

"Just be careful and don't get separated," Nelliel admonished with her own head turning to look back at them. "I'd hate for you to get hurt."

"Oh, what that horrible Szayel Apporo Grantz did will easily be worse than anything these other Numeros can do, Lady Nel," Dondochakka replied with tears over his bulging eyes. "I-I'll try not to be a burden this time!"

Nelliel could only smile endearingly at the two. Somehow she felt more assured that her chances of victory were greater with those she cherished were nearby. With such thoughts in her mind caused her cheeks to flush red with a likely bout of bashfulness. Reaching out with her hand, she snaked it out to grasp Ichigo's, almost causing him to stop in mid-sprint.

"N-Nel-?"

"Just let me hold your hand," The Former Tres Espada pleaded quietly, her eyes shining as they looked at him endearingly. "It makes me feel...more confident knowing there's someone I love nearby."

He was left awestruck at her forward nature. Having remembered their brief bout of intimacy after he spoke with her about his past, he couldn't help but smile back as he kept up his run. Entwining his fingers with hers he nodded looking forward. As he kept his gaze ahead he barely noticed a look of longing sent his way by Orihime, something that Uryū had glanced over and looked at him with a curious stare of his own. It was only thanks to Chad's silence that he could just let the issue slide off.

"Ichigo."

"Yeah?" He asked without turning.

"Was your sword...always wrapped with chains?" Nelliel inquired with a casting look at the weapon on his back.

Turning to look at the protruding cloth wrapped hilt, sure enough his cleaver seemed to have changed shape since he last saw it. He could only speculate this had something to do with his agreement with cooperating with Zangetsu...rather, the Hollow who embodied his real Shinigami powers.

"_I can't tell what shape it has but I can definitely feel a difference. It's almost like the blade got lighter_," He thought with a furrowed look as Nelliel just glanced at it with curiosity. "_What level of power has my ordinary abilities have risen to?_"

Up ahead, Aaroniero had felt a distinct lack of refinement in her current form. She had half expected her outward appearance to be questioned when removed from her cocoon. But now she felt as if nothing significant had transpired other than a complete adaptation to the Aspect ratio with her own Reiryoku. Feeling as if her power could be multiplied far beyond what 'Rukia's limit' should be but still be tangible in her feeling, she wondered how much attention people could pay on the battlefield?

"_I may be a free agent when containing the situation, but I'd at least like to add some style_," She mused to herself with a toothy grin. Silently releasing her Zanpakutō she touched the collar of her desert cloak connecting to her Shinigami uniform. All at once a dramatic change occurred in her visage; one that Renji turned to notice with wide eyes.

A glistening pale hue overlapped her coat, making it look like a cape of ice crystals that was opaque in its translucence. A violet sash replaced her white one followed by a crystalline kimono dyed of snow while a ice circlet crowned the top of her head as if she was a princess. With her Shikai in hand, she continued her walk that caught the noticeable eyes of Uryū and Orihime foremost.

"H-Hey? What didja do?" Renji inquired skeptically which only a few officers turned and gaped while trying to keep a consistent trot.

"I just used my Zanpakutō's core with my Kidō to give me a better style in appearance," Aaron-Rukia replied with a sly smile. "What? If you had skill in Kidō you could manipulate it in a way just like this..."

"Eh...eugh," Lieutenant Abarai grimaced while blushing at the beautiful dress that replaced her old uniform. "Still...it looks good on you, Rukia."

Blushing at the compliment she felt her heart skip a beat; a feeling she suppressed with a slight laugh. Pressing a hand on her chest with a look of concern on her face she wondered why she was being tricked into these sensations. Was it going to be an issue in the future?

Shaking her head, Aaroniero sprinted on, with a renewed stoic gaze as she walked upon the light in the darkness, "_I don't care what awaits me. I'll see my goals to the end, no matter the cost!_"

* * *

**A/N**: Well, this is a nice start to the war.

Please take a quick moment to thank Firegod00 for helping proof this Chapter to be in tip-top shape for your reading pleasure ^^

As you can see, I'm not leaving Aaroniero completely out. I at least want to give a distinct showing of progression of the Main Cast heading to the battlefield (even though they're coming far later than what's being shown.) With Ichigo's powers seeming to show a sign of evolving while Aaroniero just wants a new choice of fashion (let's be honest, if he really hated his choice in clothing, he wouldn't have kept wearing it throughout the whole fight against Rukia; obviously another lie to show how much 'Kaien' he is.) NellielxIchigo continues to sail onward while Orihime continues to feel conflicted. Will she move on or will she try to win her man over? Such a nail biting dilemma compared to the war going on...

Oh yeah, that happened this Chapter XD

If you haven't noticed, I have a thing for Kidou (or rather, expand on the lack thereof). So what better way to keep Gin and Kaname occupied while also sealing Aizen away? Have the new Kidou Captain combat them of course! Went the extra mile to make her a legitimately skilled and powerful Shinigami, while doing likewise to showcase Gin and Kaname's prowess as Aizen's commanders. With droves of Hollows fighting across the Fake Karakura Town, their numbers have been butchered away only to reveal Menos and Arrancar!

How will our heroes fair against them? Find out on the next Chapter of **A Predator Among Us**!


	15. Enter the Death God Hollows

The world was presented in a way differently to a man who used only Reikaku to maneuver around. While possessing keen senses of smell, taste, touch and hearing none were quite on par with his ability to use the Reishi of the Soul Society to give him a clearer picture of the world. While more difficult in the World of the Living, with time and training, he found himself quite capable of altering the scope of his Reikaku to create a sense of panorama 'vision' that allowed him to witness things in a black and white canvas.

The Reiatsu emanating off living beings, from small to great, would create brighter auroras within the dimly lit world his Reishi sense permitted him. This helped him become a skilled combatant and complement his swift reflexes in combat to be more slippery than any could credit him to be. His fight with the Kidō Captain is testament to that, showing off precedence and motion that rivaled that of his alleged genius colleague, Gin Ichimaru.

"**Tsukuyomi**."

But then, his enemy spoke one word and her Reiryoku -the heart of power within a Shinigami- magnified the Reiatsu by a high multiplier. His blind eyes widened with his spirit detection gave him the visual comparison of a star exploding off her form. Flames that only he could see trailed outward streaked across the heavens, causing him to get chills and shake. Sweat trailed down his neck and brow at the threatening level of pressure being exerted upon his own being.

"Whoo! That's some Reiatsu you have there, Kidō Captain," Gin commended, a surprisingly calm smile still splayed across his face while his uniform buffeted in the high altitude winds that surged across him as much as his comrade. Sparks imitating stars trailed up and down the regal robed woman as she held a lunar glowing staff with a full moon pulsing rays behind her head, giving her a divine visage. Her glowing eyes didn't bother addressing him but kept watch of his comrade. She didn't reply, causing him to sigh with a shrug. "That's cold, Miss. I'm complimenting you and everything."

A flicker of light would all that Kaname could perceive. To the light-haired partner, he'd open his blue eyes wide as he'd turn to notice a halo whir behind him. Milliseconds later, it detonated in a blinding flash of Reishi, obscuring the blind man's senses while sending a blistering wave of heat flapping in the air. A steaming signature he'd notice spiral down to the ground with an audible crash in the cityscape.

"_She attacked from a distance remotely in such a time span? It's like she utilized a Bankai_," The right hand of Aizen thought as he noticed her slow approach.

"Now that I've dealt with your partner," Tanrei spoke lowly, her lunar disc pulsing ominously behind her while pupiless glowing eyes stared forth. "I'm coming for you, Aizen's second."

Kaname could only smirk slightly at this, despite his pressured and sweating form.

"If you intend to come at me with such power," The blind Shinigami replied as he angled his Zanpakutō upright. "Allow me to show you mine."

"Don't be foolish. No Bankai of yours can enable you to escape death-"

A laugh breached the air between the two, as a hand was raised up to be placed over his mouth and nasal area, eyes splayed around his brows. When a purple accented wave of blackness overtook him, did Captain Kakushi open her eyes wide at the sight. A Reiatsu of immense property escalated and overtook the skyline, creating a damning curtain of darkness that quickly spread like a canopy. Sunlight vanished and within the eerie inky void emerged one white figure.

A single line crossed vertically down a white helm that encompassed all but his dreads, giving him a blank and emotionless visage. What was amplified apart from his power was animosity and malice. Such a choking force was something that not even a Bankai could produce.

"Hollowfication?!" The Kidō Captain queried aloud, her right hand gripping against the stave in her clutches.

"_**Now you understand, Kidō Captain**_," Commander Tōsen declared in a guttural voice, taking a single step forward. The next one he took placed him directly before her, sword arm raised and already pulling down in a fierce stroke. "_**And now you'll die**_!"

Steel split apart a bright substance, tearing it in half before his blind gaze. But was the shape of a woman now became two halves of a moon. With his eyes widening behind his mask, he quickly performed Shunpo to evade an instantaneous explosion of spherical force. As soon as he righted, he sensed a number of orbs manifest around him, numbering in the dozens.

Converging on his position, he resorted to bathing his blade in the fire of Haien. Cutting through each with inhuman speed and ferocity, he batted away the explosive balls of Reishi from detonating through the all-consuming tongues of his spell. It wasn't till a hand reached out of one orb and caught his wrist did he realize his folley.

"**Insei**," A whisper penetrated his being from the point of contact, his form catching aflame and rocketing down into the earth. Flattening the urban terrain within a city block, steam rolled off the shoulders off the Commander, his head ringing from the force of his impact. The mask cracked slightly above his head while lacerations formed on his shoulders and his blood oozed down his legs. Looking up, he heard an ominous voice declare the next phase of attacks; in the form of white fireballs raining from the heavens down towards him. "**Hinotama**!"

Responding in kind, he raised a free hand to rapidly fire Shakkahō at each meteorite spell he could conceive. When a cacophony of explosions popped in the air, a dozen more still streaked down towards his vicinity. With his sword wielding hand he extended a finger that emitted a lime colored marble of Reishi before stretching it upward and releasing a dark growl with a green pillar of firepower ejecting to the sky, "_**Cero!**_"

The resulting connection of energies resulted in an elliptical explosion, shaking the cratered earth and blistering across Kaname's scuffed skin. It was within the light of the blast did he hear as much as see Tanrei land casually to his left. Turning to jettison swiftly towards her, his blade met her staff; the connection of which sent him reeling back in a wave of searing moonlight.

"_**Ngh!**_" Kaname snarled as the lower left and upper right part of his mask were cracked from the velocity of his enemy's parry. Skidding back on his heels he witnessed a bolt of lightning the scale of which could've been mistaken a high class spell. But as he narrowly dodged with only his left arm scalded from the attack, he saw from the distance that only a single finger was pointed towards him with the hand still gripping the staff. "_She used Byakurai to such an extent...and my Hollowfication is just barely contending with her. What power is this?!_"

"I commend you, right hand of Aizen, for putting up such a fight. Without that mask, you would've ended up just like your comrade," She stated aloud as if it was fact. Seeing his wounds regenerate in disturbing motions back to full vitality, save for the damage done to his mask, made her scowl. "However, it seems I'm only doing less than what is required to bring you down. In order to make sure there is no room for error, I shall erase you completely."

"_**Do your worst, Shinigami**_," Kaname snarled through his mask, a line beginning to ebb across where the jawline would be located. "_**I've just begun to tap into my Hollowfication**_!"

"Then my next spell shall obliterate you."

As she spoke with certainty, light surrounded the Visored's body. An immense pressure forced him to buckle and kneel towards the earth. While he struggled he looked up to see a myriad of colors swirling into the apex of her upraised staff. Air swirled around them like a typhoon, kicking up soil and debris while her glowing frame chanted aloud with a spiraling vortex of Reishi gathered into her ceremonial weapon.

"**Hidden behind the glare of creation; bathed in obscurity, paving the path of illumination within the abyss. Despair, and repent in the eye of twilight! Sight, vanish; sound, mute; and sensation, grow numb. Be gone from this realm into the bosom of oblivion!**"

She spoke, the colors forming a red sphere of a blood moon at the tip of her staff. Its pressure creating heat that made the Hollowfied man bead sweat and cringe at such Reiatsu. Paralyzed by her hand, he could only stand and watch as she swung her weapon to bear upon him.

**"...Secret Hadō, Hitsuki-!**"

A grinding sound interrupted her lunge, followed by a whoosh of wind. The halo of light that bathed her dimmed, her emerging pupils dilated and her mouth gaped in shock. Her feet skidded to a halt and the crimson orb vanished within her weapon's edge. Turning to look behind her shoulder, she was in time to see disc fall from its hovering space, landing in two clean cut halves.

"Ichimaru!" She realized aloud, turning her head to see a distant incision through a building that perfectly stretched for over a kilometer. As she analyzed the fact that her enemy could use Bankai from a distance that she felt a sudden wave of pain hit her. The feeling of steel rush through her abdomen and escape her backside, ripping straight through her cloak made her turn to see the cracked mask of Kaname in front of her. Beyond the damage she made on his facial protection, there was a disturbing gnarled line formed across his jaw, seeming to thicken even as she spat blood out onto his dirtied front. "Grk!"

"_**You left your guard open, Kidō Captain**_," Kaname snarled, his sword buried deep into his enemy. With his left hand raised, forming a green ball of Reishi, he muttered under his breath. "_**And now, you will**_ _**perish!**_"

With a jutting thrust it was only through a rising thrash of the staff that his Cero was redirected. A mighty thuum of green overcast the pair, energy so dense and focused that its mere proximity tore the meager bindings holding up Tanrei's veil. With her olive toned face exposed, her lips stained of blood spoke gutturally as her left unarmed hand grasped the Commander's sword wrist tightly.

"**Bakudō #91**," She intoned, his skin becoming that of granite on the point her palm wrapped around, losing all warmth a living spirit body could possess. Quickly, the Kidō's flow took it up towards his elbow while also stringing back towards his digits. "**Juzō**."

Aizen's right hand man was about to lose his own right hand; if not more so. Damning the consequences, Commander Tōsen let out a animal growl as he formed another Cero in his left hand. Letting it loose at the point of his upper arm, he annihilated the petrifying limb, save for the single hand still attached to the sword embedded into her abdomen. Backing away with a Shunpo, he hunched over and clenched his stump with visible huffs with raising and descending motions of his shoulders.

"A wise choice, Kaname Tōsen," Tanrei spoke evenly, perspiring from the pain of having his weapon still adjoined within her flesh. "I fear your comrade has handicapped me as much I intended for you. You're both to be commended for showing such skill and power to withstand all that I have to bear upon you."

"_**Don't patronize me, Kidō Captain**_," Kaname groaned aloud, his stump soon gushing with viscous fluid and blood as new nerves overlayed with flesh, tendon and bone. Bare of its previous affects, the drying limb flexed and twitched, then gestured towards her. A wordless cast of Kidō formed around the hilt of his sword, sending it shooting out of her waist with a gasp on her part. Grasping his hand over the hilt, he crushed the petrified hand and dusted his weapon free of the grit, waving it with acute inspection. "_**You may have pushed me, but in the end, I will triumph. Your arcane Shinigami ways will gather like dust while our way will step upon your bones**_."

"I'm still standing, Commander," Captain Kakushi jeered, her free hand already finishing the inner workings of restoring her flesh and mending internal Damage. With a firm grasp on her staff with both hands, she became alight with a still impressive silver colored Reiatsu. "And I will keep standing till I've brought you down!"

* * *

**Chapter 15 - Enter the Death God Hollows**

* * *

Garganta had opened in the dozens across the expanse of Fake Karakura Town. Where the Shinigami had been fortified, they'd be centered around the most. Exiting them was entities varying in size and shape but all donning the same uniform. White cloaks of particular tailored taste and style with weapons ranging from the simple katana attributed to the kin they've acquired powers to, while others are more elaborate to even unorthodox. All could be seen with holes visible or invisible to their enemies with mask fragments to remind themselves as much as their foes who they really are.

They are, the Arrancars.

* * *

Near the center of the battlefield, all of the horde within a kilometer radius had been eliminated. What was tens of thousands were reduced to a mere few hundred in the outermost perimeter of the mock city. Urban cityscape was lightly damaged from the collision of the 11th Division's combat specialists, their Captain basking in the dissolving blood of a mountain of bodies that were deteriorating around him and his officers.

"Thank goodness the blood doesn't stain, otherwise I'd truly look unfashionable," Yumichika mused aloud as he grinned at the sight of blood disappearing into onyx dust that disappeared into the air.

"Madarame, sir!" 6th Seat Maki Ichinose, a man of lean build with a crop of raven hair that gathers near the middle of his brow with the rest parted away. With a Shikhakushō designed to be sleeveless and a hooded shirt worn underneath so it could be seen hanging over the top of his back, he gave a stern look at their surroundings. "By the feeling of this Reiatsu, I feel the Arrancar are approaching."

"Finally," Ikkaku declared with a ravenous smile, turning to see a number of sizable portals rip open the fabric space in a literal fashion. "That was barely a warm-up. I hope these can put up a better fight."

"If its all the same to you, I suggest we stick together this time-"

"I don't do team-up battles!"

"They won't give us that option," Yumichika replied even-toned.

Grimacing, Ikkaku cocked his three part spear on one shoulder, watching their enemies walk out of the dark fissure interrupting the scenic urban vista. From there they could count from all four cardinal directions as the Garganta sealed behind them up to twelve Arrancar. Their build suggests a largely masculine group which suited the few hundred Shinigami fine; not they'd care if they were women, they just preferred a better fight when it came to these kinds of clashes.

"Look at what we got here. Cocky bastards, all of 'em," The burliest of the Arrancars, #65 Tanque, proclaimed as he stood two heads taller than anyone accompanying him. Strapped with a sleeveless uniform with a black sash, attached to it being a bastard sword of onyx design. With his mask fragment being that of an ape, covering his eyes to lapse over his crown while the rest of his head was bald, beady eyes observed the numerous Shinigami with blades raised with their superiors behind them with guarded expressions. "Oi! Is this them combat Division we heard about?"

"_**Affirmative**_," Tazón Mantequilla, Arrancar #66, declared in a monotone. His sun-colored hair was swept in a crest near the back of his head, his fragment consisting of a complete jawbone akin to a canine. Blue eyes stared ahead while his sword was drawn and in hand, a curved scimitar with a furred tassel of white. "_**It looks like nearly their entire Division's forces are here. One Captain Kenpachi Zaraki, their combat specialist, is the big one standing behind them**_."

"Then I don't need to worry about these small fries, do I?!" Tanque cried aloud, much to the alarm of his comrades. Grasping the hilt of his blade, he unsheathed it with a brandishing blur. A flare of orange Reiatsu engulfed his body that sent a shockwave careening against the earth, blasting away the unseated members of the 11th Division. Only the Officers stood their ground, glaring forth as the Arrancar disappeared in his own dispersing Reishi. "**Pound, Símico!**"

Revealed from the tumultuous force of Reiryoku was a grey furred, white skull masked Gorilla Arrancar. Towering above his comrades, he beat his chest and let loose a roar. The Reiatsu produced a sonic wave that blistered the officers and made his allies grimace with displeasure. Kenpachi meanwhile stared ahead with a smile, his bells chiming in the air from the wind.

Without any verbal provocation, the ape Arrancar charged forth in a blur of momentum. Reapers who tried to act as a wall were crushed underfoot, excited breaths unleashed from its mask as he charged forward. When the officers aimed to stop him, he used Sonido to bypass them, leaping up into the air with Reiatsu bleeding off his upraised arms while descending towards their Captain.

"_**TAKE THIS!**_" Tanque bellowed, his inhuman fists impacting with a bright blast of Reishi that created a dome of Reiatsu that blew back friend and foe alike. Revealed beneath the vapor his eyes widened at seeing his fists didn't budge a raised sword, held horizontal along where his gargantuan knuckles had struck. "_**W-What?!**_"

"That's disappointing," Kenpachi deadpanned, his hand twisting and the blade releasing a geyser of yellow Reishi. In the arc of his sword stroke, his enemy was perfectly bifurcated from the knuckles along his arms through his torso. As he gaped with his bloodied remains thrown back into a pile, the Arrancars looked on with shock as the Captain turned to observe each of them with a single eye, his Reiatsu bearing down on them like a sword held against their throats. "Tell me he isn't the strongest you got; cause that was just damn pitiful."

"_**That dumbass! He got himself killed by being too greedy**_," Tazón swore aloud as he rose and dusted himself off. Glaring at Kenpachi he looked at the Officers leering at them with blood lust in their eyes. "_**Deal with his underlings. Only an Espada is capable of bringing that monster down**_-"

The Arrancar found himself cut off when a pair of small feet slammed into his face. The force and speed of which smashed his mask, cracking his skull open as he'd fly backwards like a cannon ball. When the other Números stood up they balked at the sight of a young pink haired girl hefting a wheel adjoined Zanpakutō, still in its sheathe. Grinning childishly, her Reiatsu brimmed about like a feral animal, eyes glowing rose as she spoke quietly.

"Kenny thinks you're too weak. That makes him sad," Turning to look at the Arrancars as they backed away, she glowered with a slasher smile stretched across her visage. "I kill people who make Kenny upset!"

Their screams echoed the landscape as they were beaten and broken before the small girl. Even the risen Division looked on apprehensively at the brutality of which she destroyed the enemies. They looked to one another, wondering what to do now that the enemies were bested singlehandedly.

"What the Hell are you all lollygagging about?!" Kenpachi bellowed out, his voice a gong to everyone's ears. Waving his sword about, he glared at them with a sneer etched onto his jawline. "There's more assholes to cut up, and I won't have the old man get on my ass about us not committing. Kill them all, wherever you can find them! I'll join you when I've had my fill of competent fighters."

"Yessir!" The mass majority of standing Shinigami left in a rush of leaps, sprints and Shunpo. The only ones brave enough to comment as they left their stalwart superior was the officers of the highest rank.

"Seems the Captain is pissed," Yumichika idly commented.

"No shit. The ballsy one of the lot challenged him and he didn't even get budged," Ikkaku drawled with a solemn expression etched onto his face. "Ever since Ichigo Kurosaki fought him to a draw, he's never had a content moment of training. Even his fight with the two Captains ended disappointingly. He just wants another fight that'll push him to the limits."

"Well, who knows? Maybe he'll get that chance with the Espada?"

"Yeah..."

"Don't worry," A chiming voice of a cheerful child made both of them sweat. Neither of them dared to look towards the blood soaked Lieutenant as she easily skipped with her sword dragging behind; it too covered in the viscous life flow of the enemies she bludgeoned to death. "Kenny said he got a feeling the strongest one will come to him. After we messed up so many, it's bound to get somebody's attention."

"S-She makes a valid point," 6th Seat Ichinose finally spoke aloud, nervously looking at his two seniors as he ran with them. "If they weren't accompanied by anyone with established rank, it most likely will alert others of their demise. An Espada will seek out the strongest and end them prematurely, that is certain."

"Tch, it's not like our Captain will get his ass whooped. Not even that crazy Ryōka could kill him," Ikkaku barked back with annoyance, staring ahead as they raced to other prominent Reiatsu of Arrancars. "No one can put that man down for good. Not in a million years."

As their thoughts dwelt on the matter, Kenpachi sighed. Looking at his sword he grumbled at the lack of voice speaking to him. He had hoped that, if he found a worthy opponent, he could connect to it and get stronger like that one kid had done. But after years of treating it like a tool, he expected it to give him the cold shoulder.

Looking around, he suddenly got a chill running up and down his spine. It was a feeling that felt so nostalgic...like so many years ago. Even his clash with the strawberry didn't give him this sensation. Turning to look over his shoulder he looked to see an Arrancar that stood solemnly with a melancholic stare. Beside him was a younger looking girl, with a horrified expression etched on her face, complemented with a pair of hands cupped over her mouth. She looked like she was going to be sick...something annoying to the Captain's sight, but didn't dissuade his attention to the canine boned necklace wrapped around the Arrancar's neck, just above a hole embedded in his upper torso.

"So, you were the one who killed them?" Coyote Starrk inquired with a voice that could easily be mistaken as deadpan.

"Nah, that was my underling. But I did kill the big one; total wuss in the end," Kenpachi honestly proclaimed with a dry laugh, raising his bloodied sword's flat to rest against one shoulder. Grinning ferally his eye locked onto his. "What? Friends of yours?"

"Comrades," He replied.

"So? You gonna get revenge for 'em?"

"See, that's the thing. It's not in our nature to avenge each other," He drawled out in response, casting a glance at Lilynette. She couldn't speak, her eye already moistening as she sensed no trace of Reiatsu among them. Even the eviscerated Tanque had no shred of life left. Closing his eyes he sighed, then reopened them, eyes blazing blue while the entire scenery seemed to transform into a howling abyss of unrepentant pressure. Like a thousand daggers of ice scraping across his flesh, Kenpachi could only look on with a mixture of delight and abject terror at the blue-eyed Arrancar in front of him. "I'll make an exception, this time. Just for her..."

Kenpachi could only let out a guttural laugh, his body letting loose an excited burst of power at the feeling he received. Even as his skin perspired, he rushed forward, his cloak billowing and his bells ringing. Leaping forth he'd swing his sword and let loose a ferocious attack; one that'd shatter the earth, rip the air and send a flash of gleaming gold around their vicinity.

The fight of his life was on!

* * *

"Did you feel that?"

"Yeah," Shūhei replied to Izuru, his eyes steeling towards a pack of Números in their released states before them. While a drove of Shinigami lied dead amidst them from their initial arrival, the interference of the Kidō members and Officers helped repel their assault on the tower. The ones in front of them happened to be the strongest...but were abysmally lower than the Reiatsu they had felt spiking in the middle of the city. "Seems like Captain Zaraki's facing one monster on his own. It's only a matter of time till the other Captains face the Espada."

"Which means we should probably go on the offensive before we face an Espada on our own?"

"I pray to any higher powers that you didn't just jynx us, Izuru," Shūhei groaned with a slant to his eyes aimed at his direction.

Their talk was interrupted when an avian Arrancar flew between them, bladed wings crashing into their defending weapons. Twisting around in a blur, it'd unleash a forceful wind of Reiatsu, pushing them in opposite directions. During this moment, a Jaguar Arrancar appeared behind Izuru's frame while a Tiger Arrancar next to Shūhei. With both clawed hands alight of Reishi they swung them in unison with an explosion of power that'd shockwave before the combating Shinigami contending with their own varying enemies.

"_**For Lieutenants, you should know better than to let your guard down so casually. This is a battlefield after all**_," The Vulture Números declared, its eyes narrowing behind the holes of its mask elongating from its face. Eyeing the wisps of smoke sent by his comrades he noticed something peculiar. Sticking out from one was a hooked shaped sword, fully intact and deflecting the claws that aimed to tear him apart. The other was a reverse pair of scythe blades attached to an iron pole handle.

"Was that it?"

"Here I thought, you reprimanded us for good reason," Izuru finished after Shūhei's query. Lowering his blade, the Arrancar's arms felt heavy, almost as if they were filled with lead. When the Shinigami swung his sword that he was barely able to defend, he struck it two more times...then felt the incomprehensible density of his own limbs drag him down to the earth below. Smashing onto the floor, the blonde Lieutenant just looked somberly below as he swiftly intercepted, yanking his sword upward in a decapitating motion to sever his opponent's head. "But I guess, you were the one who thought too casually of us Lieutenants."

"You don't have an ounce of fear for your own power," Lieutenant Hisagi declared gutturally, pulling up a chain with the hissing sound of revolving metal. Before his opponent could pull back, the secondhand scythe ripped him in half in a merciless pile of gore. Turning around as the Vulture Arrancar began to turn and run, Shūhei spun his weapon around again and sent it spiraling towards the last of the three, bifuricating him in a single stroke. "That's why, you're no match for us."

It was after he felled his enemy that he felt an almost unrecognizable Reiatsu flare up in the distance. Throughout the battles he was facing here he felt his Captain muddled throughout and then seemingly evaporate, replaced by another. Now he could tell too clearly that it was his estranged superior, now mingled with the power of a Hollow's. He felt sick to his stomach, yet an urgency was felt when he himself was clashing with a lesser Reiryoku than him; one that belonged to the Kidō Captain.

"Izuru, can you-"

"We've got things contained for the moment," Izuru declared, looking over his shoulder as the other Officers were pressuring the Arrancar. Even with the casualties that were swiftly taken by invisible 4th Division members to be tended to and redeployed later, the Arrancars were pushed back several paces for every step they took. Now less than half the numbers they arrived with, it looked as if the united numbers of the Northern front had stood fast against their enemies.

"Thanks," The scarred warrior nodded with a brief smile, erased as soon as he employed Shunpo.

Sighing, the Lieutenant turned to go help his allies until he saw a familiar coat of white. Looking up his face beaded sweat and his revealed eye dilated. Throughout the sounds of battle it died down as a single thin grin bore upon him with equally thin eyes staring at him, complemented by a pale complexion and a head of lavender. The Reiatsu was as familiar as it was crushing...

"...Captain Ichimaru?" He croaked as the man's slightly scuffed shoulders and back showed virtually no damage from his scuffle with the Kidō Captain.

"Hello, Izuru. Fancy seein' you here, holdin' your own," The Commander opened his eyes slightly, his smile only thickening. "Now that Aizen and Kaname is indisposed, let's have a little talk you and I."

* * *

It was simply chaos; albeit controlled, but still maddening. The battle between the Onmitsukidō's Corps' Patrol, Elite and Detainment was like cat and mouse. The lesser of their numbers used distraction tactics and disorienting measures to keep the Números from getting the upperhand. While numbers and organization was their best tool, the Arrancars were still individually stronger than the vast majority. The only advantage was the skills they brought to the table and genuinely employed with greater effect against Arrancars who've never fought seasoned Shinigami.

So when Omaeda saw his 3rd Seat comrade explosively connecting a gauntlet punch into an Arrancar and sending him flying through several structures, he didn't question it. Even his own bumbling frame rapidly moved in ways he hadn't felt obliged using in years. Among the Lieutenants who stood up to the Ryōka, he alone was able to track his movements with perfect clarity...he just didn't possess the endurance to withstand his Reiryoku.

After dispatching a charging Arrancar with a Shunpo swipe of his Gegetsuburi, he noticed a squad of noteworthy Números got past their defenses. Turning to look back at his Captain, not far away was sparring with a wrist-bladed feral masked Arrancar. While initially it'd look like she was being pressured, he didn't feel stress at all from her Reiatsu nor did she receive any significant damage.

She was controlling the tide of the battle through pure analysis of an Arrancar's abilities.

"CAPTAIN!" He cried out, seeing no enemies in his vicinity to jump him while calling out to his superior. "There's some strong guys gathered by the pillar!"

"And what do you expect me to do about it? Handle it yourself!" She retorted in between blocking a few bladed strikes and bracing for a kick to her midsection. "Ngh! I'm a bit busy at the moment...!"

"But-!"

Her retort would be silenced as a damning sensation trickled over everyone's spines. Looking over with a paled expression, he noticed one of them was rising from a throne made of bones. Dark skinned with a white crown, the mustached man bore a scar over one eye while staring down a member of the Kidō Corps. The other Seated Officers who stood in his path were killed individually by each of his Fracción, barring the other two he sent as a means to occupy the Shinigami.

"You will not pass! I swear it-!"

"Swear to me," Baraggan Louisenbairn proclaimed as a arm stretched out with a finger bent back. By the time he raised a barrier, it'd shatter like glass, followed by his head being blasted off his shoulders. As blood smeared across the foot of the pillar, the Espada looked up at the steep structure with a sigh. "There's a triple layered Kidō surrounding it for protection. How naive."

Reaching forth, his hand palmed what looked like a transparent field that stood strong no matter how hard he pressed. Then, a crimson layer of Reiatsu emanated from his palm and a gradual effect took hold over the material. Swiftly it began to recede and become malleable, something his palm could wrap around. In a ripping gesture, a loud thunderous pop followed a gust of wind that alerted the Onmitsukidō in the vicinity.

"The barrier! He broke through the Kidō Captain's barrier!"

"Protect the pillar!" The last of the militia shouted as they swiftly rushed to intercept the five Arrancar.

Unfortunately it was within those moments that they were greeted by the might of Barragan's subordinates. Findorr Calius smashed his mask to a mere fraction of its former size, giving him a boost of strength to swiftly slash his foes down; Choe Neng Poww headbutted one to rocket away while swinging his lumbering arms with surprising speed to catch a few others in the crossfire; Abirama Redder howled with raucous laughter as he cut down his foes with gleeful abandon; and lastly, Charlotte Chuhlhourne grinned with decadent enjoyment at each Shinigami that came within his space.

None were able to even get close to their King.

"Pitiful Shinigami. It's a wonder how they've survived this long," Barragan raised a hand, preparing to destroy the pyre that helped stabilize the material replica land. "Perhaps it is because they've yet to face me."

In this instance, Sui-Feng ceased her activities. Even though the Arrancar she faced was the Espada's own Fracción, Ggio Vega, she had practically estimated the strengths and abilities of their kin firsthand. There was no need to keep up the game any longer.

"And now, in my battle form I will-!" Vega began to proclaim in his secondary transformation, till he felt a sudden whoosh of wind. Where his opponent was, she vanished, and had disappeared from sight. Looking over with shock, a similar sensation transpired over each and every member of the Segunda's men, stopping short of the elderly man. When he turned to strike, she leaped back and gawked at the feeling of rapid stillness that came over her charging arm.

"Kill her," He ordered with a sneer.

"Don't bother," She smiled coldly, the sight of multiple crests appearing on each of the Números. Raising her bloodied Suzumebachi, she proclaimed to the Espada forthright. "They're already dead."

As she said, in a chorus of horrified cries each one rapidly dissolved in a disintegrating fashion till each one resembled a butterfly crest. As it dissembled, it'd vanish into the wind like ash. Blowing into the air, the Captain's smile turned into a stern glare while the Espada looked unmoved.

"You kill my subordinates and expect a reaction? Anger? Frustration? Fear?" He queried, his form walking towards her casually. "What you did was no more expected than one to take out the trash. Anyone can manage it. In fact..."

In a moment, he was in front of her, making her eyes shrink to pins and her mouth gape. Even as she backpedaled a hand reached towards her, encased in a sphere of crimson. Let loose, a sudden Bala explosion ripped apart the air, darting forth to smash into several Números and a dozen Shinigami in the process as it wrecked the environment with its sheer longevity.

In the process, a Captain's Haori was all that was left to show in the aftermath of the destructive attack, disappearing in the wind as the energy ate it away.

"...see? Even one such as I can manage it," Barragan finished with a huff, as vapor ebbed off his hand.

Omaeda could only cry out one word with horror at what he witnessed, "CAPTAIN!"

* * *

"RAAAAAAAAAH!" Tōshirō Hitsugaya let out a loud cry as he unleashed a wave of freezing water in the form of a dragon. Smashing into the rabble of Arrancars facing him, he barely acknowledged Komamura dropping near him in the midst of the chaos. He used Tengen intermittently with a gesture to a sword strike, using his unpredictable activation speed to swipe away the ranks of their enemies. "It seems this bunch aren't anything to sneeze over, but their rush tactics are beginning to annoy."

"Not to mention, Cap...Kaname is out there weakening our Kidō Captain," Sajin mentioned as he combined his Zanpakutō's strike to offset a number of Números in midair. His fellow Captain capitalized on the matter, freezing them all in a matter of seconds. They'd fall, shattering to pieces while the white haired child prodigy took another moment to listen more to his fellow Captain. "I need to face him; to stop him. I cannot do it while remaining here."

"I can't force you to stay, but don't throw your life away for his sake."

"I don't intend to," The wolf-man intoned with a composed stare.

Sighing, Tōshirō looked about the battlefield. Despite some casualties the Arrancars incurred, they were supported well enough by the body of Kidō Corps along with substantial aid of their combined Officers' might. Rangiku and Ibe being chief among them. With their presence still nearby, he could count on them to take on opponents he couldn't reach.

"Then go, before I change my mind," He groaned as he closed his eyes.

"Thank you, Captain Hitsugaya. When my business is finished...I shall return."

"Don't make me hold you to that," Tōshirō wryly commented, just in time to see the animal spirit disappear in a flash.

A gentle tap sounding behind him followed by the thrum of an ocean of Reiatsu that quaked the earth made the Captain suddenly regret his comrade's vacancy. Turning around he stumbled with wide-eyed fear at the female Arrancar now staring at him with cool composure. Her zipped top's collar covered her jaw over her nose, a single sword handle jutting from the back to her right. Even without moving it felt like she could topple an army.

"Captain Hitsugaya of the 10th Division," The Espada spoke lowly, causing the young superior to tense and raise his blade upright with both hands on the hilt. "I've studied your combat style and abilities that Lord Aizen has provided me. After some careful thought, I considered you to be my greatest enemy of the Gotei 13; the task of eliminating you should be my own."

Without verbally retorting, the Captain raised his blade. The sky grew darker than before, the storm brewing even stronger than it had during the battle's start. But what's more, the park they battled in was suddenly drying up; moisture drawn from the soil and bark of the forest, surging into a massive winged dragon of ice. Roaring with red eyes, Tōshirō swung his blade and sent it crashing towards her.

With a single hand, she palmed the attack, vaporizing the construct of freezing water into a wave of undulating liquid.

"She melted Hyōrinmaru's ice?!" He thought with a start, watching the water swirl around her animatedly, as if she controlled it through sheer will.

"My name is Tier Harribel," The Espada declared as she pulled the zipper slowly up with her left forefingers while casually drawing her sword with her right pointer in the pommel's ring. As the broad blade was spun into her hand, the jacket top was opened, revealing in a flurry her jaw covered mask extending to the barest partitions of her impressive breasts; one breast in particular marked with the bold number 3. "Tres Espada."

In that demonstration alone, it didn't take long for Tōshirō to consider his choice of actions.

"**BANKAI**!" He shouted with rushed alarm, raising his blade into the air as his opponent rushed forth on a wave of water. Her blade alight in a bright yellow coat of Reishi, he finished his release command as his body became encased in ice with violet flowers blossoming behind him near his impressive wings. "**DAIGUREN HYŌRINMARU**-!"

A sword swing followed a blast of Reiatsu, shattering flecks of ice from wings shielding him at the last moment. The woodland blew from the sheer force of her attack while the Captain's knees buckled. He could only sweat as he rose up to strike with rapidly freezing ice flowing with the current of his blade, meeting her searingly hot wave of water that effortlessly melted his own element. Booming waves of vapor discharged around them as they clashed, eyes locked with intensity filled the air.

In the distance, Rangiku could see her Captain's battle just as she had dealt with her own menagerie of opponents. They'd be replaced by the Tres Espada's Fracción, the Tres Bestias. From the feel of their Reiatsu, they put the other Arrancars she put down to shame.

"Well-Well-Well. It's the shorty Captain's bitch," Emilou declared with a toothy smile. "Can't wait to see the look on his face when I rip you to shreds!"

"Don't you mean, we?"

"Huh?! You're not gonna do shit, Franceska!" She jeered at her nearby cohort.

"Oh yeah?!"

"Please," Cyan Sung-Sung waved a sleeve covered hand with a roll of her eyes. "If anyone's going to beat her, it will be me. Not the two of you, for sure."

"WHAT?!"

"Hard of hearing? I can understand with such primitive intelligence when compared to me. I apologize for not using smaller words for you to comprehend," She snickered behind her uniform, suppressing the urge to outright laugh as they visibly became enraged.

"You three just made this a whole lot easier than it should've been," Rangiku spoke aloud, causing the three to look with surprise as she released her Zanpakutō into a large cloud of ash. "**Growl, Haineko**!"

* * *

Menos Grande, perhaps the rarest of Hollow to average Shinigami. Found only in text books, they seldom entered the World of the Living and largely inhabited their home dimension of Hueco Mundo. Even alone they possessed enough might to challenge a Captain to take the fight seriously; in a horde, they're significantly more troublesome for seasoned Shinigami to withstand, let alone put down. It was a task specifically assigned to the Zero Division, showcasing the less often initiative to engage such lumbering monoliths of Hollowfied might.

But to the Captain Commander, it was simply a chore for him to perform.

Leaving the defense of the tower to the Kidō Lieutenant and a handful of elite of their Corps, he leapt into the fray where the giants were 'poured' from the immense Hooleer. They had begun lumbering forth towards the towers, but turned their eyes to the spot of incredible Reiatsu. Acting more on instinct than intelligence, one Menos whipped out a tongue to squewer the old Shinigami-

-only to have it torn apart with a blurring crash of his cane.

"**Sōkatsui**," He muttered, gesturing his hand towards a handful of Menos in front of him. The result was a titanic wave of blue spell fire, erupting forth with such fierce power that it overlapped their upper bodies in the process. With only lower sections left, they keeled over and quickly disintegrated seconds after earth pounding drops to the earthen floor.

When a chorus of Ceros were primed, he turned to face them head-on. Slamming his cane into the melded body of red, he made a brief huff before casting the light into the horizon. As an explosion occurred in an unpopulated area of the war zone, he jettisoned forth to deliver a rapid succession of Shunpo punches, kicks and staff thrashes. Each successive hit shattered their masks, instantly downing the lot to crash thunderously below.

Steering his sight to several dozen more, he noticed that Hooleer was belching out another sea of Menos Grande. Almost as if it was birthing more consecutively with each disgusting spill, he knew that conventional means couldn't cut it.

"Reduce all creation to ash," Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto declared as his staff unfurled away to reveal his sword. Unsheathing it in a slow motion, he yelled aloud the name of his terrifying blade. "**Ryūjin Jakka!**"

The vicinity around him was engulfed in an inferno, flames so hot that the air cooked for a great distance. Even the Menos who marched towards them stopped their halt, realizing the potency of their adversary.

A realization that was all but too late.

"**Taimatsu**!" He growled out, unleashing a tidal wave of flames that flew at the speed of a fighter jet towards the horde. Crimson and gold tongues brushed against the clad bodies of black and white, blasting them apart and burning them away in a matter of seconds. Even the ooze that was manifesting more Menos were quickly reduced to ash within the churning hell fire.

With the Menos dealt with, he swiftly ascended to Hooleer as its enormous lighthouse scaled eye turned upon him. Even as a bright fissure of Reishi was prepared, his blade surged upwards and sent forth a titanic blast of fiery death to overwhelm it. Tissue blasted away to reveal bones, soon becoming consumed in the pillar of fire that surged into the hole of the Garganta.

During this last subsequent attack, a loud moan was heard followed by a considerable Reiatsu release. Turning to look to his left, what was a small child was that of an oddly shaped Resurreccion; bulging pauldrons with an obtusely cone shaped head. Glaring he swung his Zanpakutō towards it, only for it to catch it with ease...and for the flames in its grip to be snuffed out.

"Wha-?!" Was all that Captain Commander Yamamoto cried out when a surprising punch sent him sprawling down to the ashen wasteland. What should have been clad in continuously burning flames became erased of all evidence save for the charred earth. Rising up with sword in hand, Haori knocked off, he felt no power emanating from the still living blade in his grip. "The flames of Ryūjin Jakka have vanished. I take it you're responsible, pup?"

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah," Wonderweiss moaned out with a drawled out speech, a dumb smile stretching across his face.

"I see Aizen manufactured you for the sole purpose of sealing my sword. Did he take away your ability to communicate? To reason?"

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh," The Mod Arrancar simply took a few steps forward, hands balling up into fists indicating its intent was malicious. Rocketing forward with a sudden jolt, it'd rush towards the Captain Commander with its cumbersome frame aimed to pulverize him...

...instead, half of its torso was ripped off with a punch colliding into it, sending it streaking across the cityscape for nearly a kilometer.

"I've not been the strongest Shinigami for a thousand years based solely on my Zanpakutō's strength," The Captain Commander declared with pride, his fist lowering as he sensed his enemy's Reiatsu. Huffing he twisted his sword around to impale the earth, unfastening his Shikhakushō's top to fold over his waist. When Wonderweiss returned with its torso bubbling with regenerating flesh, he grasped his sword from the earth and his body emitted a fiery pressure all its own, burning the surface that surrounded his feet. "You're a sturdy one. Show me what you got, Arrancar!"

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" It let out a battle cry, rushing forth just as Yamamoto returned with fierceness none present could contend with.

* * *

The darkness soon came to an end. The light at the end of the void became brighter and those who walked roads of Reishi finally reached their destination. From the other side, a tear in space opened up, a rift in place where a host of Reiatsu were gathered. So when they surged from the other side, they'd be surprised to see Captain Kuchiki appearing along with the Officers sent to Hueco Mundo.

"Whoa, if it isn't the young prodigy of the Kuchiki House," Shinji Hirako commented as he lightly rested his sword against his trench coat adorned shoulder, complemented by a black tee with sleek beige slacks and brown dress shoes. As he acknowledged the Captain stepping out of the Garganta, along with the other half dozen officers he grinned at their surprise of seeing him while the aforementioned Byakuya retained a cold composure. "What? No hi for your long dead comrade?"

"I have no words for the deceased," The Noble Head replied as he closed his eyes, stepping past him and walking past the host of Visoreds. Appearing in front of Kisuke, his eyes reopened with the same stoic glare as he once had before. "Kisuke Urahara. Our mission is complete, but our destination to the battlefield has been cut off. Please escort us to the replica city at once."

"...lemme cut 'em-!"

"Knock it off, Hiyori," Shinji scolded with a roll of his eyes, chastising the red jacketed twin tail blonde while holding her back by the collar. To which she replied with a vaulting kick to his face, sending him sprawling back, nearly hitting the gaping Shinigami. Rising up to cover his nosebleed, his bulging eyes stared at her incredulously. "The fuck's wrong with you?!"

"You don't get the right to man handle me, you creep!"

"Yeesh, you're riled up today," A familiar voice to the crowd, causing the company of Shinigami-Hollow hybrids and Kisuke's own cohorts to look over in surprise. Walking out of the Garganta last with his friends last was Ichigo himself, a humored smile adorned upon his face while his hand held a teal haired Arrancar. While she looked on with apprehension, the grip of her heart's treasure kept her still while everyone looked even more flabbergasted than the enormous pole carried loot Mayuri sat upon. "What? It's like you're seeing a ghost."

"HA!" Mashiro laughed aloud, while Rose and Love looked on with curiosity.

"It seems that your hair's gone and grown in a mere few hours since we last saw ya."

"Indeed. Like a composer's manuscript before translating into a piece of artistic melody you've arrived like a butterfly from a cocoon," Rose finished after his star-fro's comment with a smile.

"Not to mention, his Reiatsu seems to have gone up a notch. What the Hell happened out there?" Kensei inquired with a gruff huff.

"And why are you hand holding that-!"

"We can discuss that later," Shinji proclaimed aloud, cutting off Hiyoriy as he straightened his coat and sheathed his Zanpakutō into its scabbard. Casting only a momentary glance at Nelliel whom looked back just as steeled, he turned and saw the younger Arrancar holding up Mayuri's stand. Smirking he tapped the back of his enfolded blade against his shoulder. "You certainly attract the strangest company, Ichigo. Though...I am glad you made it back, we should get a move on it."

"Indeed," Nanao concurred, her eyes briefly catching sight of Lisa whom shared a solid look. Even as her voice faltered, the woman she admired from long ago simply shared a smile to which caused her cheeks to flush. Straightening her spectacles she gestured her arm around and proclaimed. "We should head to the battlefield immediately!"

"Karakura Town is currently encased in a barrier made by my successor," Tessai debriefed them, gathering eyes upon him briefly. They'd see his normal shop apparel traded out for a black cloak folded over a simple purple muscle shirt and a pair of jeans with boots. "I shall bypass it on everyone's behalf."

"That sounds like a pla-," Aaron-Rukia spoke aloud, her glittering garments eyeballed by some but didn't escape the notice of what caught her speech. Looking around she realized the absence of one of them was missing...no, two. "Where did Ichigo go?!"

"Wha-?!" Shinji gawked while Kisuke simply laughed behind a fan and Byakuya sighed. "That Arrancar too! She's missing!"

"Lady Nel!" Pesche cried out aloud with Dondochakka. "She was right here and then, poof!"

"What do you think we should do, Qui-" Renji turned to inquire, realizing the clad white uniform man was also gone. "OI! THAT PRISSY QUINCY IS GONE!"

"Even Chad and Orihime," Yoruichi commented, her feet clacking upon the ground, now adorned with grey bulky armor that didn't seem to annoy her. Even her arms were clad in the stone looking material. "I guess they couldn't wait."

"We shouldn't either," Kisuke announced, clapping his cane upon the ground, moving away with a flourish of his emerald shop coat that in turn brought everyone else to move with him. "Let us go, to the battlefield."

"_Yes_," Aaroniero thought to herself with a deep smile and an unseen predatory glint in her eyes. "_Let's_!"

* * *

A/N: DONE!


	16. In Pale Moonlight

**Embodied in Death**

**Let out your last Breath**

**Pain of Sacrifice**

**Decay of Age**

**Despair of Lonliness**

**Cross our blades in the Hollow's Prada**

**Know, we are Espada**

* * *

**Chapter 16 - In Pale Moonlight**

* * *

Tanrei Kakushi, the second generation Kidō Captain and a lauded disciple underneath the revered Tessai Tsukabishi had felt her reach the peak of her limitations as a Shinigami. Though she was considered a prodigy she knew herself to be incapable of matching the prowess of an older and more experienced man as he. For while she fought hard and with more prestige than any Kidō practitioner could be commended of she was just a sorceress.

What she faced was a monster.

Kneeling with weight placed against her stave, her face was bruised, lips split and her coat covered in splotches of laceration borne blood. No longer regal she looked the part of an injured combatant on the point of near incapacitation. The sheared landscape mirrored the feeling she had of pain and fatigue; sweat and grime saw to it that she looked weathered to her enemy. Looking at her opponent whom looked merely scuffed and rejuvenated from any damage she dealt to him, she knew this was an uphill battle.

One that could only delay the inevitable.

"_**The fact you've restored your vitality after so much damage inflicted speaks volumes of your perseverance and constitution, Kidō Captain**_," Kaname grated out in a patronizing tone. His feet took him casually towards her, his hair caressing his shoulders and his mask further contorted across his jawline. Incapable of feeling pain by this point, the sheer power promoting a sensation akin to a numbing drug, he scoffed at the injuries left by his opponent. Raising his blade, he'd leap forward in a rush to impale her through the heart, blasting the air by his enhanced momentum. "_**But I will end your life here and now! Lord Aizen will assuredly need me to mop up the rest of this Shinigami and I shall deliver**_!"

Time seemed to halt for her. Her life flashed before her eyes. She knew her reflexes had waned over the course of her exhaustion. All she could do was stare as the cutting edge of her life ceasing raced headlong towards her.

"_I'm sorry, Ryūten_," She apologized as the blade inched closer, light refracting off the metal as it aimed to pierce her blood covered bosom. "_This is as far as I go_."

Unheard by both but witnessed as a dark shadow overtook the pair in the attacker's leap. The sight of a blurring wave of steel took hold of both; one that cracked down the Hollowfied opponent's from hitting the back of his own weapon, sending him to tumble to his hands and knees onto the earthen floor. The blast wave that erupted from backlash sent both combatants reeling back several dozen meters now witnessing a hulking figure of bestial strength with an armored uniform.

"Tōsen," Sajin intoned gravely as a speechless Kidō Captain stood up slowly, just as the Hollowfied Commander seemed to visibly stew at his interference. "To think, I, would direct your blade away from claiming the life of a comrade. It saddens me it's come to this and what you've become."

"_**I too am sad, Komamura**_," Kaname sneered, his body shaking with rage as his voice began to bellow and generate a buffet of impressive Reiatsu. "_**Sad to see that you've not seen who I really am until now! This is the real me! None of you saw me for what I really am!**_"

"And what is that, Tōsen?! A monster?! A villain?!"

"_**AN AVENGER!**_" Kaname proclaimed in response to Sajin's shouts. As he did, the mask fully opened with faux teeth shadowing his real mouth, spewing spittle as he howled aloud with fully outstretched arms. "_**I WILL ACQUIRE VENGEANCE FOR MY FRIEND AGAINST THIS TWISTED SOUL SOCIETY YOU PROTECT! A HAVEN OF MURDERERS AND LIARS, THE CORRUPT HAVE SAT ON THEIR THRONES FOR FAR TOO LONG AND THE ONE ON HIGH DOES NOTHING! THROUGH AIZEN, A WORLD WITH RIGHTEOUS JUSTICE WILL TAKE ITS PLACE**_," He snarled loudly, vocally presenting his blade towards him with a semblance of a challenge to his old friend. "_**AND I WILL BECOME BATHED IN DARKNESS IN ORDER FOR THESE EYES TO WITNESS IT!**_"

It was a damning silence that followed the sobering Sajin's countenance. His gaze deepened into his old friend's mask, sightless and blank, fully showcasing who he really was. Closing his eyes he let out a solemn exhale.

"It was inevitable that we'd draw blades then. You and I will never see eye to eye over this. I was a fool to expect anything else than what I first foresaw since our friendship was realized," The Bestial Captain stated, his blade swinging out to the side, cracking the earth from the pressure projected. Then, a quaking sensation was released as his Reiatsu bled into the earth and thrummed the air like a cacophony of war drums. Following this his eyes alight of red he roared aloud with vigor, "**BANKAI! KOKUTŌ TENGEN MYŌ'Ō!**"

Formed out of spectral fire came the awesome display of the Captain's Bankai. Clad in black fatigued armor with a monolithic scale, the red veiled yellow eyed giant wielded an enormous sword in its right hand. Its feet kicked up the earth as it mimicked the stance of its wielder, whom glowed an immense Reiatsu of red.

Wordlessly he swung his sword down, cleaving the earth for a dust spewing distance. The Hollowfied Shinigami leaped to the side, avoiding the blast entirely as he employed Shunpo and slashed at the back of his hand. From the plated surface erupted blood, forming a visible gash on Sajin's hand. Though he was surprised, he still had enough composure to swing the affected hand back, slamming it into the Visored.

Sent out of the crater and into a stretch of urban landscape that toppled buildings, Tanrei was awestruck at the sheer might of the Bankai.

"_**It's weakness is easy to deduce**_," The white drabbed enemy returned, his arm contorting in odd shapes as the broken sword limb that took the brunt of the force was regenerating damaged tissue, ligaments and bones. He haughtily explained while the Kidō Captain was flabbergasted just how easily Aizen's right hand withstood so much damage and walked it off without much of a quiver. "_**Your Bankai's symbiosis with you is so great that you share its injuries and its immense power, that you'd never conjure the idea that its own defense could be breached by another. No one in Soul Society could be measured against its raw power; until I've transcended that limitation**_."

"If you think you can bring me down with a measly scratch, Tōsen, then you really are deluded," Sajin huffed dismissively.

"_**Perhaps on the main body**_," He retorted, shifting onto one leg and then the other. With a sudden squat he propelled himself swiftly upwards. When Sajin reflexively raised his sword to deflect his approach, he witnessed the Hollowfied Shinigami perform Shunpo and approach the Bankai's face. "_**How about those eyes of yours?!**_"

Even with a free hand reaching up to catch him, Sajin knew he had been outmaneuvered. If Kaname stabbed through the eye deep enough, he could be killed outright. With bared teeth and motion proceeding as quickly as he could manage, neither could hear the sound of spinning metal.

Nor the pole-handled weapon crashing into his weapon.

"_**Hisagi**_," Kaname whispered, his head jerking as his weapon has cracked further, dangerously to the point of breaking apart. While he leaped away from the giant's hand, he'd narrowly avoid the spinning weapon's trajectory as it followed him. When he located Shūhei's solitary stance, bearing a stoic glare with the other scythe in hand, he leaped to attack and landed a crash against the single weapon. "_**You've come here to die?**_"

"No, to thank you," He murmured back as he barely held off the monstrous opponent, his brow twitching and sweat accumulating from the effort. "You've taught me the value of fear, respecting one's own power and the apprehension that comes with using it. Such lessons you've endowed upon me made me the man I am today. For that I am grateful."

"_**You lie**_," The former Captain of the 9th Division replied. His left hand reached behind him as the spinning blade was subtly directed towards his back, catching the razor's edge with his bare hand without consequence. Eyes narrowed behind his mask as his mouth grated with contempt visibly through his split bask. "_**I did not hear a single ounce of fear when you spoke that. You've yet to know true fear, Hisagi**_."

"I've a lot to learn," Shūhei replied, his eyes at one point widening turned into a focused scowl as his fingertips ebbed of yellow dyed electricity. "But I am thankful, nonetheless."

"**Hadō #11, Tsuzuri Raiden!**"

Upon the echo of the Kidō did Kaname realize the error in his own posture. With his weapon connecting against one half and his other hand holding the other, two flows of potent Reishi shocked him in a mantle of high voltage. Stunned enough to be kicked away he'd fail to right himself as the following chant was uttered.

"**Bakudō #62, Hyapporankan**!" He shouted as he gestured with his right armed hand, throwing a purplish white rod that multiplied into a hundred. The wall of incapacitating bolts struck Kaname, some even slamming into his body. Crashing into the ground he was all but pinned to the ground.

Grunting he'd feel an immense pressure visiting him in addition to his own former subordinate's seal. Black cloth swam around the air till it entwined his pinned limbs, forcing them tightly into the earth as stone tablets weighed down the imprisoned commander. Snarling and shaking as much as his bindings would allow, Kaname frothed with abject rage.

"_**I will not be stopped by the likes of this!**_" He declared as he turned to witness the radiant glow of the tenacious Captain Kakushi treading towards him, staff floating before her while both sets of forefingers crossed as the rest clasped. Glowing visibly to the fellow Shinigami, she chanted aloud.

"**Born of sin, held by the tiles of transgression and reject all that is righteous. Black of darkness be your shackles and grey be the weight of your affronts of this world. Bakudō #99, Part I, Kin**!" She chanted aloud, the seal reinforced and twined tighter on the Shinigami. Despite herself breathing heavily and profusely emitting sweat, she kept her stance proper while the pair of involved Shinigami looked on solemnly. Turning to look over one shoulder as the commander to continued to thrash. "My apologies for cutting in, but I thank you for your help. Had he not been offset by your interference I'd most assuredly be dead."

While Sajin bowed his head to her in a non-vocal acknowledgement of her words, Shūhei dropped to the ground and treaded forth. Looking at the seething man whom he once admired and looked up to, it pained him to see what befell him. Turning his head away, he inquired softly, "What will become of him?"

"Should this battle end sooner without calamity ensuing? He'll most likely stand trial for the crimes he's committed. I'm certain being affiliated in the murder of Central 46 will have him face a grievous sentence," She replied bluntly, her words having no sympathy for the one gnashing his teeth. "His fate has been sealed the moment he sided with Aizen. There is no redemption for his kind; not especially since he dabbled into Hollowfication."

A significant surge of power shuddered the air when she finished speaking. A Reiatsu so intoxicating that all knew whom it belonged to. With a trio of paled expressions, only one seemed to laugh.

"It seems Lord Aizen is done waiting," Kaname declared with an unseen smile. With his hand still holding his cracked sword tightly, the wrist twisted and the weapon became glowing of a purple-onyx flame. Spreading like wildfire it encroached upon his bindings eroding it till they were abolished off his person. With clever use of Haien the Visored stood before the trio of Shinigami, flipping his blade to be inverted as he presented it to them. "And I've decided to show you the gap between us, Komamura, Hisagi and Kidō Captain.

"**Suzumushi Hyakushiki: Grillar Grillo!**"

* * *

Kenpachi Zaraki has had a slew of battles in his lifetime. Since the dull memories of his childhood he was a butcher of men and an unrivaled killer with savagery that couldn't be matched. Until he met _her _did he feel true ecstasy in the act of slaying. But somewhere down the line he had grown bored and too eager to find even the simplest of fights entertaining. Never once did he feel an intensity in battle or one that he couldn't overcome with sheer force of his own might.

Then he met Ichigo Kurosaki and he found the perfect man to rival his undying ferocity with power of his own. Ever since then he had tried all he could to commune with his Zanpakutō, to get stronger, but always was met with perpetual silence. Still the confrontation he had survived made him believe if he kept fighting stronger opponents he could become stronger than he once was before.

Feeling the sensation of his own palm splitting open and a powerful backlash of his own Reiatsu impacting him was nostalgic. With his heels skidding back a significant distance before he drove his blade into the disheveled cement to slow himself down did he see an unmoved opponent. Not even his white linen uniform had been scratched by his sword's rough edge, and he himself had a bored if not disappointed look in his eyes.

"Is that it? You're barely above Grimmjow in terms of strength," Coyote Starrk declared as he had unpocketed his gloved hands to rest at his sides. "Though judging from your behavior you're every bit as bloodthirsty as he is. You two would've made quite the pair."

"Sorry, but I don't swing that way," Kenpachi declared with a raucous laugh, hiding the rare fear he felt swelling in his gut. Keeping himself from looking down at the blood dripping off his sword hand, he realized this was what the Ryouka kid must have felt when he first struck him with no effect. To think he'd face an opponent overwhelmingly stronger than him; the Reiatsu was so palpable he swore he was facing someone of _her _caliber rather than the other barely competent Captains he's come to know.

Still...it excited him to no end he found someone this strong.

"Looks like I hit the jackpot," The 11th Division's Captain muttered to himself, his hand reaching up to grasp his eye patch. Tearing it off, he bore a feral grin as he became illuminated in a powerful surge of spirit energy, becoming a torrential pillar of gold light. The skull that encased his form clapped its ethereal teeth together just as his yellow eyes stared ahead at the Arrancar. "You're the strongest one, aren't ya?! If my third seat was here, he'd say I'm one LUCKY GUY!"

A loud yell sounded as his feet cracked against the earth and propelled forward. Just as he reached forth to thrust his blade deep into the bored Shinigamified Hollow's chest did he feel a hand touch his shoulder from behind. Gaping at the sight, Kenpachi turned to attack but was already airborne. Catapulted senseless into the sky with a underhanded toss, his ear popped at the sudden change in altitude and wind slapped across his face as he looked up to see the canopy of the mock town's barrier.

Flipping himself in the nick of time, his feet crashed into the invisible ceiling like a solid object. With bent knees he dove downward with a bellowing laugh, sword held in his right hand while his left hand was outstretched. Descending like a meteor he saw the Arrancar still in place where he was thrown from, allowing him to target his next descending slash with a ferocious arching stroke.

The entire area was enveloped in a crushing blast wave, yellow light filtered about and the superstructures were engulfed in hyper friction born flames. The air crackled with solar colored tendrils of Reishi, sparking and snapping about wildly. Beneath the cloud of vapor induced from the heat was Kenpachi's opponent as he remained in the air.

With a single hand grasping hold of the sword with only his glove torn off; revealing a black number one etched upon it.

"I'm not normally the kind of guy to just put down weaker opponents so quickly, but," Starrk monotoned his hand gripping hard enough to shatter the sword in his grip into metallic fragments, leaving what Kenpachi held a mere stub of a weapon. Without gesture, his chest bubbled forth a luminous deep blue Cero, unleashed in such a fashion that it washed over Kenpachi's whole frame in a fiery pyre of destructive Reishi. With the clothes nearly ripped off from the now shirtless charred man, Starrk watched him fall face flat onto the ground. "You're likely to kill my other comrades if I let you run free. So it ends here, Captain."

Turning away, he spotted Lilynette in the distance, pushing some debris off her. Sighing with relief that she wasn't caught in the crossfire he took a step away from the wrecked urban battlefield. When he felt a tug at his ankle his eyes widened.

"What-?"

"You think...I'm...going to let you get away?" Kenpachi Zaraki hoarsely chuckled between labored breaths. With cracks of blood oozing over his blackened scalp to his reddened face, the bloodied and battered Shinigami looked to be in terrible pain. Yet his left hand sought purchase of the Primera's ankle, his sword hand clenching the fragments of what was left of his Zanpakutō. "My men...would think I'm a coward...if I had no will to fight when I had the strength to move!"

"Oi, let go," Starrk shook his foot with annoyance, comically watching the charred hand continue to grip tighter. Visibly twitching, he shifted to face him completely, looking down at the hand still holding fast. In the blink of an eye, an arc of motion too fast for Kenpachi to see, his wrist was eviscerated clean off; kicked away not far away from his blood stained remains while the sound of a sword clicking back into the scabbard was heard. "I told you, didn't I?"

"D-Damn," He swore under his breath, grimacing as he closed his eyes, unable to see the bleeding stump while his remaining hand continued to hold his broken weapon.

"It's strange. I don't know your name yet I kind of pity you," The Primera spoke quietly, his expression coming across as solemn. Raising his left hand, he gathered Reishi into a swirling sphere, pulsating ominously as it overcast the downed Captain. "I won't let you bleed out in the middle of nowhere. One more Cero should finish you off."

* * *

The amount of injured was staggering. Many of them that were taken into the remote hospital housed in the mock town. But as the dispatched medics of the 4th Division reported, a lot more were left behind and were too far gone to be helped. Even as hundreds of healers continued to help hundreds more, Hanatarō Yamada did his best to keep up with the pace.

From a particularly maimed Shinigami he was aiding, he overheard his senior 3rd Seat, Yasochika Iemura, trailing behind with several other peers behind Captain Unohana. He hadn't heard what was being discussed till she head towards the exit of the building, with them staying back a respective yet close distance.

"Who is this patient you're going to see? Why are you needing the three of us for one man?"

"Because I believe that, judging by the Reiatsu that has dwindled, he is in terrible shape," The braided woman declared as she held her nodachi by the strap with both hands. Smiling politely, a sudden shiver down the four's spines and their complexion paling. "I'm counting on you to preserve his life and restore his vitals to stability."

"O-Of course, maam!" The 3rd Seat replied, all four of them standing at attention in sheer fright. But as she turned to leave, he could only stutter aloud in serious inquiry. "But, Captain...where will you be? Will you not return?"

"Depends."

"Depends on what?"

"How much trouble this opponent is," She cracked a smile, an old rare expression of sadistic hunger encroaching on the usual kind visage. While none of her subordinates could see it, the sensation of cold swept across the hospital floor. The feel of not warmth and kindness, but of bloodlust.

"Is that really our Captain?" Hanatarō inquired with a shudder.

Just as quickly as she stated her intentions, she left just as swift.

* * *

"Goodbye," Starrk respectfully whispered, unleashing the ball of Reishi onto his downed target.

But in a flash that only the Primera could see, a blur of white moved past the traveling destructive fissure and took the incapacitated Zaraki out of his attack's path. Even as the ground upheaved in a ball of flames and popping air pressure, the Arrancar turned to look amongst the smoke and orange-red overcast air.

From the distance he'd see a particular well kempt woman hovering over the charred meat of a Shinigami. Bearing a Haori of a memorable symbol on her back while ebony hair braided to fall over her uniformed bosom, she placed her hands over his enemy's most significant wounds and began mending them.

"_So, the 4th Division Captain, Retsu Unohana_," The Arrancar observed silently, his eyes gazing at her as she set work to quickly implement first aid. "_I guess he won't be dying then. What a drag. I hope Aizen doesn't get mad at me for not attacking her from behind; not that she couldn't see me coming given the way she moved just now_."

"You're such a reckless fool," The woman placated gently to the burned out warrior.

"Why...why can't I get stronger?" Kenpachi inquired as his eyes began to close, the exhaustion finally setting in while she finished her procedure. "Why...am I...so weak?"

"No. The blame falls to me you're in such a state," She quietly apologized, her hands moving t o unsheathe her sword. When the long blade was held aloft to the side she sighed. "But I will make it up to you and make sure the one who felled you doesn't escape."

"**Ingest, Minazuki**," He'd hear her chant, her drawn sword becoming a cyclops manta ray creature. With a sickly yellow underbelly and a green skinned top, its tripod of a leg let it lean over the pair with a burbling sound. A tongue extended out to delicately pull the immediately mended 11th Division Captain into its gullet. Exhaling in a disgusting burp, it turned to see the disembodied hand not far away. Like a frog its tongue snapped out and quickly swallowed it . Rubbing its side she urged it with a smile. "Go and take him to the designated HQ of the 4th Division. Return to me when you are done."

Gurgling aloud in compliance, the Zanpakutō flapped its wings and took flight, riding the air currents in the sky till it departed.

"I thank you for being so thoughtful in not attacking me while I aided my comrade," Unohana spoke honestly to Starrk as she turned to address him. Letting the scabbard drop to the ground, she walked forward in a calm stride, her polite smile adorned. Slowly it transformed into a grin of thin lipped malice, her eyes becoming cold and hungry. One foot closer and the entire world became a maddening orchestra of barely subdued violence; all etched into the phantasmal screams that ebbed from her composed Reiatsu clutching to her like embalming cloth to a corpse. "Allow me to return the kindness. Arrancar, draw your sword."

It was all the warning the Primera was given.

With his gloved right hand swiftly grasping the hilt, he backpedaled just as the woman lunged forth. In a blur of steel he'd meet a Reishi sword she manifested via Kidō -Hadō #41 Kiriken- and a loud boom of colliding Reiatsu transpired. Azure met dark purple as the pair of weapons pressured against each other, eyes of blue stared each other down, one with apprehension and the other with carnal delight. The ground deepened, a crater swelled outward from the force both placed against each other.

Just as her left arm moved, the Primera spun his sword to swivel hers off course, allowing a gestureless Cero prime across his torso and fire. While the offending pair of knives were shattered, she managed to redirect it with the back of her hand, only burning it slightly from making contact. A distant explosion rumbled with a plume of flames rising upward, showcasing the power she avoided taking head-on.

"_Geez_," He thought as he held his blade with a grimacing expression at the unfazed Shinigami standing before him. "_Why did I have to find somebody so strong_?"

* * *

"CAPTAIN!"

It was the only word that Omaeda could shout at the horrific sight of her Haori being torn asunder, the last thing he could fix his eyes upon. When the Segunda had dispatched her so swiftly he paled and sweated at his gaze turning to him. Just about to make a run for it, he then felt his eyes wince at a sudden flash of light.

In that luminous glare was Suì-Fēng, now adorned solely in her Onmitsukidō Chief uniform enveloped in phantasmal wind of Shunkō. Twisting about behind the Arrancar, she was enabled to execute a swift palm-thrust into his backside, causing him to bulge his eye wide with shock. His lumbering old frame was sent flying, allowing her to chase him down with her newly acquired speed.

"Is that...Captain's Shunkō?!" Sayuri exclaimed, in awe as the sprite woman managed to appear in front of the Espada. The performance of a handspring kick to use the Arrancar's own momentum against him split the earth and sent a billowing shockwave for all those around them. The 3rd Seat had to shield her eyes with her gauntlet adorned hands, blinking widely at the display of sheer speed and strength. "Incredible! Did you know she had such a technique?!"

"Are you kidding?! She doesn't share anything with me!" He spat incredulously.

"Right, she does like to give you a hard time. Probably because you're her right hand and your bad habits bother her."

"Stop talking trash about me-!"

He was cut off when he heard a succession of kicks pop in the air like thunder. The elder Shinigamified Hollow was being throttled up, rag-dolled without any feasible defense. The sight of her jabbing her gauntlet adorned dagger digit into his chest would be seen right before she hooked both legs around him and sent him falling to the earth. When he impacted the earth, she crashed both knees into his chest, erupting the environment once more with radical force.

"**Nigeki Kessatsu**!" She cried out as she hit the monarch mark on the Arrancar's chest, causing the black lines to glow a bright red.

An emptiness filled the air as the fight seemed to have been brought to a dramatic close. Suì-Fēng kept her enemy pinned, awaiting the instant the poison's effect would be complete. Her eyes gravely fixed on his closed eyes and his open mouth. When she felt a sudden familiar sensation of stillness numbing her legs during her Shunkō's deactivation did she suddenly see him reach out and grasp her arm.

"Death in two steps. Yes, such a formidable move Aizen told me about," The Segunda stated gutturally, his eye staring at her with amusement. With his gaze held upon her the monarch glowing sign withered away, dispersing into flaking ink colored dust into the air. "But, did you ever consider that your poison would last long inside my body? Did you really think that someone with a simple Kidō enhancement could deal a mortal blow to the likes of me?"

Releasing his hold on her arm, Suì-Fēng turned to look at a painful yet limp motion her Shikai adorned limb had undergone.

"_I didn't even feel exertion from him at all, yet, my arm is broken?!_" She thought with panic, reactivating her Shunkou to push herself away from the Espada. Clutching her useless arm with a sweating, composed expression she did her best to remain calm.

"I see you just had a taste of my Aspect," Barragan noticed with a gruff huff, dusting himself off while the glowing mark she had stabbed into his skin had all but faded away. "You see, whenever an Arrancar was promoted to the rank of Espada they all had some strong character or essence that propels them forward. Their ideals, morals and very being center around the aspects of death.

"Greed. Madness. Intoxication. Destruction. Despair. Emptiness. Sacrifice. Solitude, are all traits that we Espada embody and motivate us as individuals," He digressed, pointing to her broken arm for emphasis. "And mine is the most absolute; Senescence. The byproduct of time's weight on all things in creation, the curse of aging. The confusion you felt from a simple touch breaking your bones like brittle wood will be an ending befitting you and your men."

In a buzzing Sonido that made him virtually teleport back to his throne, his fist smashed through his seat. Through the fragmented remains of bone material came an enormous axe, a single red eye at the base of the weapon's dual butcher blades. Swinging it to hang upside down, he gruffly chanted to the bleak object.

"**Rot, Arrogante!**"

A guttural voice followed a rivuletting flow of violet-black Reiatsu. Folding over him like burning fabric the light dimmed and the air swirled ominously about. Tendrils of black Reishi surged across the earth, soon unveiling the King of Hueco Mundo in his truest form in a ripping sound.

Donning a purple coat with black furred trim, the golden crown resting over a human skull was devoid of flesh. With golden bracelets jingling about his skeletal wrists, the released Arrancar let out a small breath, coming out like a toxic smog similiar in hue to his own dark Reiatsu. When a golden trimmed boot touched the soil, chills ran down all standing Shinigami's spines at the sight of everything surrounding his vicinity...decaying.

The disintegration process occurred rapidly, unfurling in wave of death that spread like the god of all plagues. Suì-Fēng let out a startled cry as she turned to flee, only for her heels up to her back to be encroached. Even now the painful process that she couldn't see of her Shikhakushō and flesh reduced to ash, her muscle past the tendons and blood vessels to the very bone wittling away. She was far too close to have had a chance to escape; so she chose to speak to the only one who could.

"Omaeda," She choked out, her eyes locking onto his petrified visage as her skull began to erode from behind up to the front. A brief smile with a sad look in her eyes locked onto his as a faint sign of tears welled up as she gasped her final word. "Run."

Overwhelmed in the wave of aging force, Captain Suì-Fēng of the 2nd Division and Chief of the Onmitsukidō Militia was slain.

"CAPTAIN-!" Sayuri shrieked, her body leaping forward with indignation, unwittingly towards the sea of blackness that continued to spread. When the Lieutenant's surprisingly strong arms wrapped around her from behind, she flailed madly. Growling she yelled at her peer with venom in her voice. "Let go! I'll kill him! I'll avenge her-!"

"You felt that, right?! The same thing that Captain Suì-Fēng did before she died. We're no match for this. We have to run!"

"No we don't, you coward! Let me go! LET ME-!"

Turning around on his heels, the Lieutenant put the pedal to the metal and zoomed as far as he could. He didn't even pay any mind as the tower's base behind them was eradicated by the senescence that grazed it. With the foundations wittled away, the cornerstone that held the duplicated town tilted towards them and moaned with momentum. The impending doom came towards them even as he aimed to rush through the urban landscape to escape.

"Awshitshitshitshitohshiiiiit!"

The monunmental structure tumbled forth with a loud crash. The blast wave unfurled in a line of complete upheaval of cement, concrete and asphalt. Glass along with walls flew in sporadic directions, the awry collateral unleashed a testament to the dimensional lynchpin's scale.

But somehow, Omaeda's quick maneuvers had only them half buried under some bearable debris.

"Ngh...ow, that smarts," The chunky Lieutenant retorted as he pried loose several blocks of cement off himself. He sighed with relief at the sight of the 3rd Seat only receiving several scrapes, while he himself felt a wet gash on his head and several cuts from the shrapnel. She was on all fours, forlorn and unable to speak as her body shook. "Well...what now?"

"_**Ah, so you can run, can you?**_"

The familiar voice, now layered in a tone more ethereal than from spiritual flesh. Turning to look over his shoulder he saw that the Espada was floating in the air a good twenty meters off the ground. Behind him was a field of dust and ash, with nothing left remarkable of what was once there; aside from the ruins cast by the crumbled tower.

With it gone, the folds of spacial restriction began to be undone from a distance and he witnessed the glow as structures filled with people were being restored to where it was lost. It was a slow process but if left unchecked, the whole of Karakura Town may return before they knew it. Right in the middle of a war zone no less!

"_**I had figured if I simply destroyed one, this false town constructed by Soul Society would come back at the seams**_," Barragan gloated with a bone contorted grin, his voice echoing in the air without any real motions of his mouth to do so. "_**But I'm sure that bastard Aizen will most likely want this done sooner rather than later. I may loathe his existence but I am intrigued of seeing this God of Shinigami that live up on high. For that, I'll tolerate his whims enough to carry out his goals...for now**_."

"_Shit, what am I supposed to do_?" Omaeda thought, feeling frozen stiff as he was stared by unseen eyes from this regal embroidered skeleton. "_Everything around him just freakin' disappears. If I just wail at it, I'm sure I'll end up like the Captain! Think! There has to be a way to survive this-!_"

A distant rumbling sound caught his and his enemy's attention. Turning to look at his left, the frabric of reality was being overturned by the Material World's original state being restored. Even so, a twenty meter long piece of the crumbled tower rose up before it was sucked back into the Soul Society's fold. With the livid, heaving frame of Sayuri beneath it she hurled the enormous pyre shaped remnant of the structure towards Barragan like an enormous ballistic missile.

"CHOKE ON THIS!" She screamed as the monstrous sized weapon of crude making struck his proximity.

But no loud crack of tonnage of spiritual constructed material was made. No, instead it rapidly decomposed, becoming a brittle cloud of dust. As the last of the rocks crumbled the Espada hadn't even flinched at ther attack that ordinarily would've at least made any other Arrancar be wary.

"I...I put all of my strength into that," The 3rd Seat muttered out with deflated morbid understanding. "Not even force can move that thing?!"

"_**Age kills without understanding. It is something no one comprehends**_," Barragan replied, the gaseous smog exuding from his mouth in a chilling sound of ghastly wind. "_**That's how you'll die, Shinigami. Without knowing anything at all why**_."

Spewing forth like a serpent, the Respira flew forth like a whipping arm, aiming to grab hold of her and pull her into a cold unforgiving beyond. No reincarnation, no coming back; just an empty void of unrepentant nothingness.

Just as she thought she was joining her superior, a stuttering cry was heard following a whooshing sensation that wrapped in a weight around her legs. Yelping she was pulled down, mere inches away where the breath of death almost made contact. Crashing into the ground, she groaned from the impact but was amazed she survived. Untangling her legs from the chains she saw a large spiked ball near her body pulled to rest heavily upon the stronger than expected Lieutenant.

"Y-You got another thing coming if y-you think you can just kill another of my comrades in front of me wi-without me stopping ya!" Suì-Fēng's right hand declared boldly, despite a clear look of fear worn on his face and his legs shook. While Sayuri looked on with newfound awe and respect, the Arrancar simply huffed from afar.

"_**I was holding back that time. I hadn't expected outside interference. But if you want to die together so badly**_," Barragan declared, his noxious breath escaping forth in an impossibly swift wave of blackness, bearing upon them even as he spoke to his victims. "_**I'm happy to oblige your death wish!**_"

A flash of white appeared before the pair of paralyzed Onmitsukidō Officers. In that moment the wave of darkness vanished before their eyes and seemed to discharge from their savior's sword. Such a phenomena was so surprising that even the Espada let out a startled bark as the blast of Reiatsu coming off it dispersed the power.

"_**You fired...Respira...at me?!**_" He scoffed incredulously, the smoke rolling off his royal shoulders as his hollow eyes stared at a white-haired Captain wielding a pair of swords bound by a chord with talismans attached to them. "_**Who are you?**_"

"Captain of the Thirteenth Division, Jushirō Ukitake," The senior Captain replied as the two officers behind him gaped at seeing the Captain's power and sword release firsthand. As he kept the Espada's attention, the distant sound of pikes crashed into the dimensional folding earth was halted by its proximity. The line was generous enough that a temporary barrier was crafted so the real Karakura wouldn't be unraveled any further, something that Barragan simply scoffed at when he noticed it with a tilt of his head. "Your opponent will be me, now."

"_**Indeed**_," Barragan grinned, letting out a raspy chuckle. "_**And I will be the last enemy you fight, Shinigami**_."

* * *

Tōshirō Hitsugaya was slowly gaining headway. As the ice petals wilted away behind his back he felt more control and strength enhance his movements. Starting off the bat he was at a complete disadvantage against the Espada, even when she hadn't even released her sword. But now the effects of his Bankai was beginning to bear fruit, with which a third of his restrictions had dwindled away.

Being blown back by an especially strong bolt of Reishi in the shape of a sword, he had only slid a few meters back instead of being rag-dolled as before. Taking time to regain his bearings he saw that the Tres Espada had halted her offensive. Even as the cloudy sky began to let loose rain upon a good half of Fake Karakura, its influence already starting to encroach to the rest of the mock town. Droplets of moisture along with gusts of wind were accentuated by flashes of lightning high up within the heavens.

Within a particularly loud thunderclap, Tier Harribel huffed through her mask with disappointment, "This is all that there is to a Captain? Here I thought you'd put up a better fight, but all you can do is delay my advances."

"Isn't that common against those with the same element ability?" Tōshirōu countered cooly, cocking a slight smile as he held his Zanpakutō with at an angle with both ice encroached hands. "As long as I stand I'll continue to dredge the very heavens to produce more water to freeze. You have impressive talent at bending and melting water, but even someone with your amicable abilities will be overwhelmed."

"Then I shall no longer waste time," She breathed out, raising her body upward, away from the decimated park grounds to get a view of the city surrounding it. Twisting her sword around to an inverted posture, she breathed aloud her final words. "And end you in an instant. **Hunt, Tiburón**."

The generation of Reiatsu to form a shark mouth shaped body of water made the Captain guarded. In a swirling cyclone of moisture he rose up into the air at a similar altitude with cooling vapor ebbing from his sword. Holding his blade forward with one arm, he observed as the Espada appeared but not as dramatically different as he anticipated.

"_Her Reiatsu hasn't gone up that much. Is she concealing her power to catch me off guard?_" He furrowed his brows, noticing her physique had changed to possess a skirt of bones while her thighs were exposed down to bone clad boots from the knees down. Similar material formed sleeves of alabaster wrapped from the elbows down to her digits, crest designed pauldrons flanking her now exposed visage with blue jagged tattoos on her cheeks and a pair of fin-bands trailing from her back to either side. Her right hand held an equivalent of a shark fin with three angled hollow points on either side, the weapon similar to that of a pata. "_Her weapon's size has increased, that means her range must have as well. I should be cautious and keep my distance if that's the case_."

Finishing his trail of thought, he only saw her arm move and a blur of multiplied Reiryoku was felt exerted in a trail of Reishi released by her weapon's motion. Red hot pain was felt while a spray of blood splattered across his body, a stump remained as he looked over with shock as his right wing and sword arm petered down to the ground below.

"A single bite from a shark has taken down an ice dragon," Tier Harribel stoically boasted as her eyes coolly observed his injury at her hands. What she hadn't expected was his tail looping down to catch the sword, letting the crumbling ice appendage and his organic one crash to the ground. Once it was in his left hand she furrowed her brows. "You're bleeding out, Captain Hitsugaya. I suggest you surrender now or retreat to mend that injury if you wish to live. Keep fighting, and you'll die."

"I'm well aware of my condition," Tōshirōu grimaced, his left hand alread forming a healing ray of Reishi onto his torn shoulder. After a few seconds the bleeding stopped and he formed a crude glowing cast in its place. Inhaling deeply he exhaled with perfect control, the raining air howling as moisture accumulated towards his body. The wing repaired itself within seconds while a faux limb of ice replaced his missing one, gripping his sword once more with ease. "I have full control over the weather, manipulating water to do a number of things. Even if I or my Bankai sustain injury, I can restore it with the moisture in the atmosphere; even by creating these puppet limbs in case I lose one or two."

"Impressive. I should do well not to underestimate you," Tier complimented, her pata wielding arm raising upward. Just as she motioned her weapon, the immediate surrounding rainfall swirled around into an enormous maelstrom of water. Seeing the Captain's visage she merely intoned with a serious edge to her voice. "You're not the only one who can bend the water around you to your whim."

"**Cascada**."

With a succinct shout a monolithic pillar of liquid rushed to slam into the devastated park, spreading outward to flood the urban vicinity. Buildings crumbled and streets ruptured by the pressure of the spreading moisture. As the water parted, she could see a thin sheet of ice where the Captain was sent crashing through the street. A dilation later, and the floodwater froze into a field of erect ice spikes.

"**Guncho Tsurara!**" The child prodigy declared lowly, sending a hail of ice daggers rushing in a wall formation towards his enemy.

"Futile," Tier proclaimed, extending her pata to melt the frozen water in a single bout. The momentum slowly let it linger on past her stoic frame only for the sound of rapid temperature decrease to reach her ears. Looking behind her she did a quick Sonido to avoid a halo shaped wave of ice that aimed to cut as it did enrapture her in its clutches. Backing up, she assimilated more water around her bone-white weapon until she felt the Captain's Reiatsu from behind. "**La Gota!**"

Firing at point blank, the spear of water seemed to skewer straight through the white-haired Shinigami's chest, sending a gout of blood from his opened chest cavity. As the light faded from his eyes a shadow loomed over the Espada and the Captain. To her surprise it was an ice dragon of incredible proportions, thrusting from the blade of another of the same opponent she wounded.

"_It was a copy all along_," She realized, raising her weapon only for the injured ice doll to grapple her right arm, proceeding to slash the cold katana against her exposed back. While her Hierro deflected the doppelganger's attack, it was enough to let her get struck by the Chinese dragon of freezing water. Colliding into her, it'd become an ice-shaped flower, imprisoning her in a motionless prison of solid cold.

"She was incredibly strong, even for number three," Tōshirō concurred to himself with a low voice. Panting he grimaced at the phantom pain he was feeling from his missing arm. While Zanhyō Ningyō could help him create frozen copies of himself in his own likeness, even using the Reishi water to mimic blood to offset his enemies further, he knew it was a trick that could only use once. Not to mention it was invaluable to use should injury be sustained to his own body. "I've got to check on Rangiku, see if she's okay. After that I'll make sure to help round up any other enemies left on the battlefield."

Turning to fly off, he felt a spike of Reiatsu. Twisting his head around he saw that the ice flower cracked, then shattered into a ring of cyclonic water. Twitching with vivid frustration and equal amount of fear, he raised his sword back up in both hands. When over half of the petals faded behind his back, his eyes bore into hers as his own white Reiatsu stared down the vapor breathing Tres Espada.

"If my Hierro wasn't so thick, I'd probably be frozen to the bone right now," Tier stated with a deadly mantle of yellow Reishi crackling around her body. "Unfortunately for you, there won't be another opportunity."

* * *

Rangiku had to hand it to her Captain, the weather affected by his Zanpakutō definitely was not made to be comfortable. Even as rain soaked her, chilling to the touch, she kept her guard up with ease. She was used to this after all; even the lewd description of her luscious body through her uniform wasn't something she was foreign to. Her enemies on the other hand, weren't so composed.

"F-Fuck! Why i-is it so cold?!" Emilou Apacci declared, trying to cling to her waist, grimacing as well for the various lacerations and gashes inflicted by her opponent. In stark contrast, their enemy had yet to receive a serious injury thanks to her damn Shikai.

"It's that pint-s-sized Captain of h-hers," Franceska Mila Rose stated, her eyes looking towards the horizon. They had to dodge the wave of floodwater that almost overtook them. Based on their Pesquisa, neither of the fighters had yet to come out victorious...yet. Rubbing her arm from a particularly deep wound, her hand gripped tightly on her sword. "To think you could hold a-all of us off by yourself...you must think big, huh milk jugs?"

"I'm sorry, I can't hear you over all that blood on you," Rangiku snapped her left fingers, smiling cheekily as a whirlwind of ash corkscrewed towards them.

"Oh dear," Cyan Sung-Sun proclaimed behind a bloodied sleeve, performing an evasive Sonido along with the other two. Even as they did, tendrils of the grey substance flew out towards each fighter. Flipping and somersaulting through the air, each of the Tres Bestias continued to rush about in the air aiming to come back towards their enemy.

"Eat THIS!" Emilou punched the air, unleashing a Bala towards her foe.

"**Bakudō #39, Enkōsen**," She muttered quickly, easily deflecting the rapidly launched weakened Cero variant with a spinning disc of golden light.

"Bitch!" She swore aloud, unlatching her cuffs to form a pair of sickles in each hand. By the time she halted herself to prepare for a lunge, she felt a creeping feeling latch up her left leg. Similarly, Cyan and Franceska had their own limbs ensnared. Too late was their reactions as the Lieutenant slashed the air causing every microbe of ash to multiply the effect over their appendages. Past their Hierro, it was slashed and shredded in a shower of blood between the trio of Arrancars.

"You should pay more attention to your surroundings," Rangiku lectured with a confident grin, complemented by the droplets of rainfall sliding down her face and off her jawline. "Haineko's power is that my blade becomes one with the ash. Every grain of it packs the same power of my sword slash. You're in a world of hurt if even a finger pinch gets attached to your body."

"You already EXPLAINED that!" Emilou snapped back, wincing at the pain of her gruesomely mutilated leg.

"Really?" The orange-blonde cocked her head to the side while possessing a coy expression. "I must have forgotten. Perhaps I need to repeat it a few times until you can avoid my attacks more effectively."

"Why you-!"

"Stop, this isn't working," Franceska calmed down, her own visage mirroring composure as she masked her own pain. "We'll have to release our Zanpakutōs. She won't be able to stand against us once that happens."

"As much as I hate it, I'll have to agree with you on that notion," Cyan nodded with a huffing sigh.

Clicking her tongue against her teeth, Emilou wordlessly affirmed her like-mindedness to that plan. As one they'd erupt into infernal balls of explosive Reiatsu, blasting the rain in a fierce wind. When a culmination of red, scarlet and orange lights diminished they were now within their Resurrección forms.

"**Thrust, Cierva**," Announced Emilou Apacci, now possessing brown furred body with the exceptions of her hands to the cleavage line running up to her neck and face. Amber eyes bordered by red lightning eyeliner, she now sports a pair of deer antlers to complement her hooved feet and thin tail jutting from her back. Her Reiatsu sparked a bright red as she sneered at Rangiku.

"**Devour, Leona**," Franceska Mila Rose snarled with a feral grin, emerging from the mist in an even more Amazon get-up. Chalk white bones cupped her breasts like claws, similarly adorning her biceps and triceps that moved down to cover her clawed hands in white silk. A regal neck piece also made up of the same substance to the legging attached boots connecting up to her upper thighs approximately next to an armored thong below her navel positioned hollow hole. Her mask fragment became a forehead crest that sported a golden mane headdress, overlapping her grown chocolate curled tresses down to her waist. The last changed feature of hers, other than holding a double-bladed sword bereft of a tip, was feline fangs and an orange X tattoo that ran across her face centering around the bridge of her nose. An orange Reiatsu bristled as she smiled viciously at the rattled Lieutenant.

"**Strangle to death, Anaconda!**" Cyan Sung-Sun hissed at a high volume, her body undergoing a metamorphosis akin to Emilou in that it changed her body's physiology. From the waist down she becomes a slender bodied naga with its tail measuring up to nearly four meters in length. Additional pink dots cover her other eye, the black furred collar is thicker and possesses a texture akin to feathers and her mask fragment becomes a half armored cobra hood over her right cranium's side. Still possessing her pale jacket's long sleeves and her deep emerald hair now divided into two braided sides at her lower back downwards, she looked mischieviously at her Shinigami opponent while boasting a rose colored Reiatsu.

"Let's kick her ass!" Emilou screamed with delight, her body zooming forth on pure propulsion. Watching her enemy twist her hilt around and motion a wall of thick ash between them she let out a scoffing laugh. Priming a Cero from her left hand she thrust it into the Shikai's body, unleashing a destructive pillar of Reishi that aimed to blast her opponent apart.

Instead, it parted the ash, scattering it around her but showing the wielder was nowhere to be seen behind it.

"**Hadō #78**," The Arrancar turned to hear Rangiku chant from an angle below, bestowing a white glow to the hilt of her sword. As she made a cutting stroke, the ash surrounding too became a white sparkling hue. An instant later it became an ovular explosion that spiraled up to the heavens and down to the earth. "**Zangerin!**"

"D-Damn!" The Fracción cursed as she leaped out of the smoke, not immediately charging as she huffed at the kickback of the spell. Scuffed fur along with burns to her visible skin she looked far less damaged than the Shinigami hoped for. "To think I needed to exert my Reiatsu against an attack from you..."

"Calm yourself, Apacci," Franceska intoned, causing the bipedal deer Arrancar to sneer at her which she ignored. Smiling toothily at Rangiku she raised her sword up just beneath her chin with anticipation. "She was anticipating on taking at least one of us out when we were at our most confident. But now we've seen her tricks, she'll be in for a world of hurt with just herself."

"Hmph, I'm getting a headache with how much sense you're making," Cyan griped from her sleeve.

"Deal with it," The Amazon warrior snapped, leaping forth with a grin at one with her naga comrade. "We can argue after we skin this bitch up and go after her Captain."

"Heh, I'm down with that!" Emilou cried with sadistic glee, all three of them charging at their singular target.

That is, until their attacks were blocked by an unseen force.

"What?!" Franceska croaked at the sight of her sword against a luminous blade of rainbow colors. Emerging from a refracted cloak, the 6th Seat Maki Ichinose kept his invisible weapon against hers with impressive strength. Similar invisible veils were undone as Yumichika held his sickle Shikai against Cyan's serpent protruding blade just as Ikkaku blocked Emilou's fist with his three part staff.

"On my insistence, I kept everyone including myself hidden from view as we approached to assist Miss Matsumoto," Maki formally explained as he kept the enemy firmly at bay despite her strength and Reiatsu. "My comrades were against this due to their code of ethics and pride, but given this is a war, sacrifices of dignity must be made."

"Yeah, this was real uncool landing a sneak attack like this," Ikkaku kept an indignant Emilou at bay almost casually. He even shrugged as she struggled to push farther against his sturdy wooden weapon. "But hey, Tetsuzaemon looked like he was busy chasing a couple of twerp Arrancars that snuck into his area and Izuru didn't seem to be keen on leaving his perimeter either. So I guess it was just us."

"Although, we did arrive in such a beautiful way," Yumichika declared with a haughty laugh. "So it works out in the end."

"You guys can do it! I'll be rooting for ya!" Yachiru cheered from a distant building top.

_"...what a help our second strongest of our Division is_," Maki thought with a visible grimace.

"HA! Like this is going to stop us!" Emilou hollered out with fury, her body erupting into a crimson fire of Reishi as she grabbed hold of Ikkaku's weapon and landed a Reiatsu infused kick to his center. Surprised at the maneuver, spit flew out of his mouth and he was sent crashing into the ground. Spear in hand she twirled it around and threw it down where he landed, aiming to stick him in with it. "Three against one, or three against ten, you can't beat the Lady Harribel's Tres Bestias!"

When the Zanpakutō collided with the ground hard enough to make a sizable dust cloud, Yumichika and Maki were deflected away by the other pair of Arrancars. With their backs up against Rangiku's, they looked down to see their associate's condition. Surprise to some while not to others, a sight to behold was seen that made the deer-Arrancar grind her molars with rage.

"Those bad of odds, huh?" Ikkaku queried lowly to himself, a hand firmly grasped around the blade as its edge just pricked his forehead. A trickle of blood slivered down his smiling face as he chuckled. "Good thing I'm a lucky guy!"

* * *

Among the rain, was a series of earth-shattering attacks and air thundering maneuvers. Two titans of strength faced off against each other in the downpour caused by Daiguren Hyōrinmaru. Shockwaves that could be confused with artillery going off were but simple gestures and muscles being used for impacts against the enemy.

A particularly large blood red Cero launched eradicated urban structure, concrete earth and burned away the earth, bowling over everything till it struck the far-off barrier wall. Emerging from the embers of the fading flames was the oldest and strongest of all Shinigami, founder of the Gotei 13 and leader of all that stands against Aizen. The wizened elder possessed a few blotch marks on his uniform legs from the blast, but otherwise his two arms braced the blast that sent him flying back.

For the first time in centuries, Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto felt the need to exert himself.

Wonderweiss Margela, now in his lanky tall released form of Extinguir, was already on top of him a fist punching the ashen earth that was being rained upon. As muddy ground exploded with upraised rain drops, the spry Captain Commander vaulted over the Arrancar, his sword unsheathed in the process. Landing with his back to the Arrancar, he muttered lowly to himself, "**Ryuujin Jakka Strike One: Nadegiri!**"

A complete arc of lacerating force slashed up the Mod Arrancar's left abdomen all the way up his shoulder and down the back. The blood that sprayed out as his body nearly was dismembered completely did nothing to hinder the Shinigamified Hollow's counterattack. Twisting around on his heels to use his right side, his right fist infused with Reiatsu crashed into Yamamoto's defending blade. The seismic blast was enough to send the Captain Commander flying back but little else.

"_For someone who is unable to speak or convey emotion, he sure is a clever pup_," Yamamoto thought to himself, observing the wound he inflicted was -just as the other times- regenerated within seconds. The bubbling white flesh that stitched the body back together irritated him. "_If I am to keep this from becoming a prolonged engagement, I should destroy him with absolute force._"

Screaming aloud, Wonderweiss encased his arms with Reishi and began to rapidly discharge Bala. A cacophony of explosions ripped apart the earth as Yamamoto dexterously spun, somersaulted and flipped to avoid the resulting explosions or the cannonballs of Reishi sent his way. With his left hand embalmed in a bright azure flame, he slipped between the Mod Arrancar's volley of limbs and used his right arm to dismember his primary appendages. Amidst the shower of gore he plunged his free hand into his midsection.

"**Hadō #95, Raiden Ken!**" A billowing blast followed by a hand of electric fire surged from the modified being's backside. Tearing his body apart in the resulting blast while charring the earth in a wide radius only the gaping, fear stricken face of Wonderweiss lived to hit the earth along with its cracked oblong head.

When it did, the veteran Captain sheathed his sword and clapped his hands together.

"**Banish into the nether, ye of lost pride**," He began to chant, watching the dismembered head bubble and inflate, the flames of his Zanpakutō ready to burst. "**Strangle yourselves knowing you are at the mercy of the abyss. Blacken, Encroach, and Swallow! Begone, to oblivion ye will find no slumber nor wakefulness from an eternal nightmare**!"

"**Bakudō #90, Jōshōkage Kakusui**!"

Separating his hands to produce a liquid shadow, he plunged both set of digits until the palms sunk into the earth. Just as the fire was about to erupt from the head altogether a monolithic pyramid of opaque onyx blasted from the soil to meet at a singular point. At the top would be seen for a hundred meters in height was a single dilated eye that closed shortly after opening. The flames that were unleashed within just as the Kidō was finished binding the area were intense, so much so that visible cracks and fissures ran along the surface of the durable spell structure.

But after the last of the unleashed tongues were quelled, silence once returned to the endless rain. Sighing with finality the Captain Commander reached to his sword, feeling the Reiryoku the blade had before was still empty. Realizing during the time he had fought the creature it had also sealed the flames it could generate as much as it had done so already.

Cursing the enemy leader's name, he'd feel an ominous Reiatsu be released into the heavens. Lightning began to crescendo across the dark canopy above the older Captain Commander's head, his eyes opening slightly in a keen glare at the distant seal that the Kidō Captain had made. Emerging with one hand followed by the whole of the body, the unfettered general of the Hollow army smiled smugly as he turned to look at the older Captain's direction.

"To think Wonderweiss hadn't inflicted any substantial damage upon you speaks volumes of your skill as much as your power, Captain Commander Yamamoto," Sōsuke Aizen spoke to himself with a calm smile. "However, thanks to his unique properties, your Zanpakutō won't be a threat to us for some time. With everyone else in your army occupied, I can take my time dispatching you my way."

Beginning to walk towards him across the sky, he heard a distinct crack. Looking towards the barrier sealed within heaven's vista, he noticed several more webbed out. Narrowing his eyes to a mystified stare he'd feel as much as witness the birth of blackness surging out with enormous malicious intent.

"**Bakudō #90, Dankū!**" He immediately chanted, forming a transparent wall of deflective power. The plentiful Reishi sweeping out was about as hot as flames, bleeding over the sides and continuing to blanket the sky with its presence. The crimson outlines of the power continuing to pressure his defenses also began to break his shield, causing his eyes to widen with incredulous disbelief. "Impossible-!"

A timely executed Shunpo that put him to a set of infrastructure untouched by the Captain Commander, he witnessed the skyline consumed by the pouring pillar of Reishi. Almost as if it was a Cero Oscuras it baffled him who had so much power to break through both the Kidō Captain's and his own Kidō in a single strike?

"So, you dodged it after all," A familiar voice echoed behind him, giving him pause enough to look surprised over his right shoulder. As rain sloughed off his uniform shoulders he witnessed a freshly soaked head of orange spiked hair with a dangerous glowing blue pair of eyes staring back at him. A white frayed collar outlined a black overcoat of Reiatsu, leading down to a pair of white outlined gloves that covered his hands along with a white threaded hilt holding a black guard and slightly serrated edged katana. In a Bankai and producing Reiatsu almost foreign to the general, his worst enemy finally arrived on the battlefield. "But the next time, I won't miss, Sōsuke Aizen!"

* * *

**A/N**: Aaaaaaaaaaand finished. Whoo boy, this Chapter ended up being a lot longer than I intended it to be. I apologize to those who read casually but this was something I couldn't cut everything out entirely. As much as no one WOULD complain that I'd erase the existence of the most padded out and messily paced Arcs of the series, I did enjoy to a degree what content we got regardless of how prolonged it was. Thus I wanted to give some nuggets of niceties to the cast that is present so that I could wrap this part of the story up quicker and also show that I care.

I hope you all liked what I delivered because in a chapter or two will come the clash between Aizen and Ichigo. Who will come out on top, now that Ichigo's gained a new plane of strength? How will Aaroniero change the tides of war? Find out next time on the next update of A Predator Among Us!


	17. Dance with the Devil

"He certainly made an entrance," Uryū Ishida observed as he adjusted his glasses. Standing upon his platform of Reishi with Aaron-Chad while Orihime did the same with her Shun Shun Rikka, Nelliel had opted to just float beside with them. The hole within space was enormous, erasing the refraction of a peaceful Karakura Town behind it. With a near fifty meter width, their friend had erupted forth and left a path open for those behind. "And from what I can tell, his Reiatsu has gone up against Aizen's."

"We should help him," Nelliel declared, her eyes furrowing intensely as the grip on her Zanpakutō tightened audibly. "I don't like just standing back watching."

"There are other Espada still fighting, each of them even stronger than Ulquiorra," Orihime intoned, turning her worried expression to face them. "Shouldn't we help them?"

"Do what you will, I'm going to protect him," The Ex-Tres Espada said her, dropping to a crouch and zooming off the skyline towards where she felt Ichigo's presence. Thrown in the middle of a cold shower of rain, she didn't expect the just introduced vision of Kisuke Urahara appearing in a whiz before her. Skidding to a halt, the cane armed man looked at her with anything but a smile. Swinging her sword aggressively, she shouted at him with urgency in her voice. "OUT OF MY WAY!"

"I can't allow you to hinder Ichigo's fight with Aizen," Kisuke spoke bluntly.

"What?!" She cried out incredulously, a look of indignant rage flashing across her bared teeth and widened eyes.

"I mean just that," The shop owner spoke levelly among the downpour, his eyes never wavering. "As of this moment, Ichigo Kurosaki is the only one who hasn't seen Kyouka Suigetsu who is a threat to him. If any one of us get near him, we're liable to become Aizen's puppets and be hypnotized in order to inhibit Ichigo's ability to stop him."

She had known that she had seen _Lord _Aizen's Shikai, even explained by him personally what it is. However, even knowing the power didn't mean she could counter it. It was why she bothered to warn the strawberry haired man about never looking at the Shinigami's sword release. But, at this moment, she still wanted to be of assistance to him.

"I-"

"If you really want to help him, keep outside of Aizen's Reiatsu. The less likely he's aware you're nearby, the more likely you won't become affected should he try using that power," Kisuke advised her, pulling out an umbrella from his coat and unfolding it. Placing it over his and Nelliel's head, he smiled comfortingly to her. "Try to have faith in him. He didn't get this far without having an insane amount of luck and great help from you guys. Leave this to him, okay?"

She weakly nodded, affirming with a reluctantly dropping of her head and lowering of her sword. As she noticed the rapid approaches of various other people, moving in multiple directions she turned her gaze once more to the distant presence of her heart's longing. Inhaling deeply, she turned on her heel, rushing off into the horizon while containing a single thought, an unspoken cry to him.

"_Win, Ichigo! Defeat Lord Aizen and come back to me!_"

* * *

**Chapter 17 - Dance with the Devil**

* * *

Ichigo Kurosaki, age fifteen, a high school student and big brother of two sisters while also being a Substitute Shinigami. But as of this moment, he was more than that. Landing upon the soaked alleyway between empty replica buildings, he stared down the one who caused his friends and family the most pain, threatening to bring even more harm with the construction of the Ōken. So, while in this newly evolved form of Tensa Zangetsu, he raised his sword menacingly toward the silent leader of Hollows and traitors to fight for their future.

And also, payback for what happened on Sōkyoku Hill all those months ago.

"'I won't dodge the next attack', you say," Sōsuke Aizen bemused, his countenance restored as his initial surprise wore off. Turning to face him as rain slid down his face and drenched his uniform. A soft smile spread across his confident expression as he stared down the angry Ryōka he nearly killed their last encounter. "You certainly have gained a staggering amount of bravado, for someone I felt get killed by Ulquiorra. How did you escape his clutches when Rana Zolinder failed to finish the job?"

"I didn't escape, I left," He answered forthright, a flash of lightning overcasting his visage threateningly. "Ulquiorra died facing me. He was loyal to you in the very end, even staving off death for one last attack."

"I see," The White General thinned his smile with narrowed eyes. "Then if he lost to you, Ichigo Kurosaki, then he was of no worth to me. Just like the Vanguard, their usefulness has come to an end."

Any restraint Ichigo had vanished in that moment. Hearing such callous words speaking to individuals who had pride in their way of life, whether they hated him or not, didn't deserve this. Rana's hatred felt justified of Shinigami when facing this man; Ulquiorra's loyalty felt betrayed.

A thunderous eruption of his black Reiatsu came in the eclipsing speed of his approach. Swinging his sword he'd meet Aizen's in a timely unsheathing parry. The force his attack that was skillfully redirected blasted apart the structure next to them, sending it awry in an eradicating pressurized wind. Bending down to thrust towards the white worn opponent he'd watch the man leap in a forward flip, evading him at the last moment.

"**Raikōhō**," Aizen uttered with a turn of his body and a left handed thrust towards Ichigo's back. In that moment an explosive wave of lightning Kidō encroached the earth and arched into the sky. The rain ceased in the wake of the traitor Captain's attack, yellow light swathing over his target. Only when the sight of fiery black outlined with red wiped away his spell did his expression form a look of surprise.

"**Getsuga Tenshō!**" Ichigo let out a daunting roar, sending an equally as large counterattack towards his enemy.

Crashing point blank, it'd surge forth, pushing the enemy past streets and through entire structures. The black abysmal force kept his sword arm up, putting it at bay as his power poured into his sword. With his left hand enraptured with azure Reishi, he fired it towards the darkness. A chant followed the surging pillar of Kidō that blasted into the Bankai offensive of his enemy.

"**Hadō #88, Hiryū Gekizoku Shinten Raihō****!**"

An opposing explosion of orange-golden flames as the two attacks cancelled each other out. He didn't bother flinching at the burns his knuckles received with being so close to such a volatile mass of Reishi. Instead, he focused on a sound among the flames. There he witnessed a black sword parting the tongues at high speed. Smiling with confidence he muttered simply, "Predictable," as he raised his sword to parry it.

But in doing so, he saw that the user wasn't there.

Looking to his left he was unable to stop a glove wrapped right fist, crashing straight into his jaw. Being sent off his feet, he'd crash into a nearby building as the offender grabbed his Zanpakutō with his free hand, tossing it back to his right. Swinging to his side, he yelled at him from the distance, "How did that feel, asshole?!"

An explosion of whirling spirit energy blasting the rubble apart. With his clothes dirtied and a bruise formed over his left cheek, blood oozing down his stoic jawline. Any sign of a smile was whiped away as he stared towards his enemy from the distance between them. Even as the transparent flow of overwhelming power came from him, Ichigo raised his own Reiatsu to produce a black-red mask effigy behind him.

"I won't simply destroy you, Ichigo Kurosaki," Aizen announced, suddenly in front of him. With a swing of his sword colliding into the younger man's, his enemy's knees buckled and the earth dipped into a sinking crater. Grimacing with disbelief at the overwhelming pressure that was pushing him down, the auburn haired Shinigami smiled decadently down upon him. "I will break you."

* * *

"**Los Nueve Aspectos!**" A whisper came within the emerald roar of sonic waves of destructive force. Rupturing the chest plate of Kokujō Tengen Myō'ō Komamura regurgitated blood and bile as he collapsed on his back. With his Bankai disappearing, he barely got a sight to see Kaname's new form as his vision darkened.

A Resurrección, showcasing his merger with Hollow and Shinigami powers to bear the resemblance of an Arrancar's sword release. Hunched over, his stature was that of over three meters in height, black furred substance covering the majority of his large body. With four clawed arms his hunched back possess two long, spiraling horns, each adorned near the points with two rings with chains hanging from them. A white cricket shaped mask dominated the majority of his head, only his jawline with sharp teeth were visible as his bulbous opened eyes gave the once blind man vision. With a quad of thin veined wings and a long furred tail, the angular legged Hollowfied Shinigami strode towards him with a pair of Cero being primed on either side of his narrowed eyes.

"_We didn't stand a chance_," Sajin realized, unable to see the bloodied and nearly unconscious Shūhei lying strewn among some debris nearby. The Kidō Captain as well lied still, her staff lying out of reach as she bore multiple lacerations from the fearsome enemy. Rasping breaths the beast-man looked on with sadness as his once friend prepared to finish him off. Closing his eyes to shut out the lime colored outline cast over him, he somberly accepted his fate. "_I'm sorry, Tōsen. I failed you_..."

What brought him back from the brink of consciousness was a sudden sound of finger snaps. As the considerably destructive blast of Reishi washed over his person he noticed an opaque orange barrier had formed around him. In addition, it didn't even budge against the weight of the Hollowfied might. Blinking almost deliriously, he turned his head to see that Shūhei and Tanrei Kakushi were also wrapped in protective shells of shimmering light.

"_**What?!**_" Kaname cried out, his insect eyes homing in on a particularly rotund shaped older man. What he lacked in familiar apparel, bearing a pea green suit and a dark tie with a collared white shirt he made up for by bearing a memorable complexion of upraised pudgy fingers. That and the voodoo designed Hollow mask that had formed over a Shinigami nearly a hundred years ago. "_**You-NGH!**_"

Unable to complete his speech, he felt a mighty collision from a force he didn't sense. Not through his newly acquired Hollowfied senses or the eyesight he had previously lacked. Departing in flight he crashed onto his crooked legs with a snarl, feeling with his clawed digits a bruise formed over his Shinigami skin and cracks over his durable hollow cranium.

"You felt that, didn't you?" Kensei Muguruma inquired rhetorically, his military cargo pants, black boots, orange finger-less gloves and sleeveless muscle shirt bore the look of someone who wasn't a Captain but a human of the World of the Living. Thanks to the specialized Gigai that masked his presence both from surveillance equipment of Soul Society and other spiritual beings entirely, one could mistake that with no outward sensation of Reiatsu. Lowering his fist down, he gave a stoic glare to his former subordinate. "Kaname Tōsen, Fifth Seat of the Ninth Division. You're one I could never forget the feeling of being stabbed through the back after I saw you cut down your own comrades."

"_**I thought I recognized that haggard, worn look, Captain Muguruma**_," Kaname chuckled as he allowed his Hollowfication to mend the superficial damage to his mask and his tender flesh. Smiling broadly, he brandished his teeth while scraping his clawed fingers together, akin to razors being sharpened against a whetstone. "_**I can only assume you Visoreds finally came out of hiding. Are you ready to meet your men in oblivion? If so, I can oblige by making you my first meal as a transcendent be**_-_**NGH**_!?"

Surprised once again as he felt a fist into his face, sending him into a building side. With its infrastructure falling apart soon after, the right hand of Aizen gripped his face, shock painting his expression that he was desperate to hide.

"_What's going on? Why can't I follow his movements? Have I yet to adapt to my new form's powers yet, or is there something going on with Muguruma's body that I don't know about?_" He queried to himself, eyeing Kensei warily.

"It's...you," Shūhei managed to rasp aloud, his scarred face stricken with surprise at the sight of the familiar Captain's backside. The person who inspired him to become a Shinigami, tattooing the mark he saw on his chest upon his own left c heek as a sign of respect. He was alive and came to save him just like he did over a hundred years ago. "K-Kensei Muguruma. H-How are you alive? W-Where have you-?"

"Please be still," Hachigen insisted calmly, already pouring healing energies through his defensive barrier after unmasking his face. The kind pink haired man looked at his compatriot from afar with certainty. "This battle won't take long, now that Kensei's here."

"_**So, what is this really about?**_" The Hollowfied Shinigami inquired as he lumbered back towards his old superior. A sick smile spread across his face incredulously as he guessed what his old mentor's intentions were. "_**Have you come to bring me back to my senses? Are you going to lecture me what I did was wrong? Or are you here because I'm allied with Aizen?**_"

"None of the above," The Visored answered dryly.

"_**Oh**_?" The cricket hollow angled his head to the side with perplexity. "_**Then, is this for revenge?**_"

"You're damn right it is," The grey haired hollow hybrid snarled, using his forefinger to spin his trench knife up into the air before reverse gripping it. A serious glint entered the glare of his blue eyes staring with his weapon held parallel to his lower jaw. "I'm here to kill you, Kaname. For my men, my Lieutenant and me. There's nothing else to it than that."

"**Bankai**," He breathed out, his body becoming a wellspring of cyan Spirit Energy. Unleashed in a spherical blast of incredible pressure, his arms were wrapped in dark bands of metal, all the way to his fingertips from up his shoulders. With a metal harness arching above his head, he bore only a pair of knuckle-blades in each hand, the ground beneath him hissing with spiritual vapor as the ground quaked about him. "**Tekken Tachikaze!**"

"_**HA! You're as naive as the others!**_" He proclaimed, spreading his arms out as his Reiatsu buckled the landscape around him. "_**I'm far above that of any Shinigami's Bankai! No matter what power you unveil, I'll obtain my vengeance!**_"

Leaping forward, the insect Hollowfied Shinigami thrust all of his razor sharp claws to impale his enemy. With daunting power that easily crushed the brawn of the Gotei 13 in the form of Sajin's Bankai, he felt assured none could challenge his martial might. His eyes homed in on the sneering expression of his old superior, watching his one arm raise to guard his face; then drop in an instant of dark mantled Reiatsu.

The multiplication of power was felt as a gut wrenching punch crashed straight into his abdomen just beneath his hollow hole. With gaping insect eyes staring down at the six diagonal lines across a pale Hollow mask adorned across Kensei's visage, he felt the magnanimous gap of power stretch between them in that moment. A surge of explosive power ripped through his chest and detonated his backside, tearing apart his body in a simultaneous barrage of volatile continuous power. His horns evaporated, his mask shattered and the furred skin burned away along with his additional limbs. Blood spewed out of his mouth as his lavender eyes widened with horror.

The surrounding land buckled with an upward twister of Reishi clawing towards the sky. With a crater dipped beneath their feet, it'd be here that their battle would come to a startling and complete end.

"_**I'm not kind like your friends you tossed aside and awaited execution by your hands**_," Kensei stated as he withdrew from the abhorrent wound made on the barely alive man that flopped limply upon his back. Undoing his Hollowfication with a gesture while sealing his Bankai back into the knife, he pocketed it while looking solemnly down at his old subordinate. "But you chose your fate the moment you were willing to betray your allies. I don't give a damn why you did it, only scum turn their backs on their comrades. Your mistake was making an enemy with a man you didn't finish off a century ago."

Unable to speak, Kaname simply closed his eyes as tears flowed over his face. It wouldn't be but seconds later that a gruesome explosion of guts, innards and flesh discharged from his remains. His Captain didn't even bother to watch as he stepped away with a grim expression upon his face.

Shūhei was mortified by the horrid end his once dear mentor had undergone. Even knowing that he was about to meet such a terrible fate had he not been rescued by these once seemingly dead men, he couldn't help but feel sorrow. Leaning his head back he ground his teeth together and balled his fists together with self loathing for his own weakness.

"Tōsen," Sajin whispered, his own word unheard by his saviors as he sighed sadly. "I'm sorry. I wish you reached out to us before it came to this. But for whatever it is worth...I am glad I was able to call you friend even to the end."

* * *

"So, Aizen's right hand got taken down?" Shunsui asked no one in particular, tipping his hat upwards as he felt an old sensation. Not only did he feel the Substitute Shinigami's power but an additional host of presences that he hadn't felt in a long time. One of which was his Lieutenant, and her predecessor side by side. "Lisa? If that's you, I'm a little scared about having a little reunion..."

"What are you talking about?" Rokuō asked with a confused tilt of her head.

"Oh, it's nothing darling," He chuckled with a goofy grin.

"Ugh, you're insufferable," She groaned with a roll of her eyes much to his delight.

Their casual disposition would be shaken when a particular Reiatsu bore upon the host of Shinigami and its Captain with tremendous constriction. Before them tread the white uniformed Gin Ichimaru, a thin smile spread across his face as he approached them slowly. Like a predator he stalked his quarry with certainty and subdued glee.

"HEY! STOP RIGHT THERE!" Third Seat Enjōji swiftly rushed his enemy, drawing his sword in a whirling arc to cut the Left hand of Aizen down.

Shunsui didn't even have time to stop him. Between the time he unsheathed and silently released Katen Kyōkotsu he already felt a sudden fire of pain slide across his waist. His eyes widened and his mouth gaped, slowly looked down to see his abdomen spewing blood. Similarly Rokuō, the Kidō Officers and other Shinigami present were falling in bifuricated pieces. Just as the straw-hat adorned Captain fell forward, detached from his still standing lower half the tower behind him careened backwards, shattering in thousands of pieces with an explosive crash.

"Sorry bout that, Cap'n Shunsui," Gin apologized, holding his now compressed sword with its edge just beneath his constant smiling expression. "Now that Aizen is free I can't afford to sit on my hands any longer. Just so ya know, I never sealed my Bankai; that's how serious I took ya compared to the other Captains and Gotei pals around here."

Coughing, Shunsui looked up with a strained sight, his vision dimming as his swords slipped out of his grip. With Gin walking away he'd watch him disappear in a flicker of movement; leaving his prey lying in a pool of his own blood among the ruins of the slowly unraveling dimension cornerstone.

"Damn," He laughed sardonically, his final breaths rasping out along with his words. "I let my guard down...sorry Lisa...Nanao...I guess I won't be having a reunion with either of you after all..."

As he breathed his last a single figure, draped in sparkling white was the form of Rukia used by Aaroniero. She breathed with slight exasperation, having done all she could to ensure she slipped away from the Gotei forces coming to reinforce their brethren. The sight of such slaughter inflicted by a technical ally made her smile with glee.

"_I'm glad everything was in chaos when Ichigo took off on his own. Such an opportunity to acquire more Aspects and power is always welcome_," She thought with a bared grin. From both arms came writhing mass of purple flesh, swiping over the scene, not leaving one body left. Retracting her limbs back to their original likeness, she couldn't help but shudder with ecstasy at the sudden sensation of power and consciousness flooding into her form. Her eyes practically rolled back as drool slid down her cheek, a dumb grin with a flushed expression adorned her visage. "_Amazing! Such power, such strength of will and spirit. Once I've acquired enough I'll evolve into the perfect being! And then...and...and then...I'll..."_

It only occurred to her now, among the pools of blood surrounding her as the dimensional fabric continued to unravel to reveal the real Karakura Town that she had no idea what she'd do next after evolving to her peak. What was the endgame? Where will it end? What was her resolution?

She blinked, suddenly assailed with a voice that echoed with a number of them. Yammy Llargo, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, and Rana Zolinder all vied for dominance to establish destruction and make her into an apex warrior. Others just vied for acknowledgement, to be known and not forgotten. Each voice overlapped by the other, struggling to assault her senses.

"Who am I?" She queried for a moment, forgetting who she was. Where did she come from? What was her life's purpose? As she held her head she almost believed that she was a Shinigami who had spent her days in the Rukon District, befriending a red-haired man she became good friends with and was adopted by her solemn brother-in-law.

When she graduated the Shinō Academy she met him, Kaien Shiba. And...

"No!" She cried aloud, her eyes darkening to a violet hue as her body bubbled with controlled wave of purple Reishi. Sliding her hands off her head she silenced the voices with a snarl, shaking her head fiercely. "I am...I am Aaroniero Arruruerie! I am the master of these Aspects, they do not control me! I am not THEM; I am not Rukia Kuchiki!"

A hitch in her voice happened as she realized the wording of her denial. What compelled her to say that last phrase?

With widened eyes she felt through her Pesquisa the arrival of Kidō Corps along with Onmitsukidō members dispatched to stabilize the scene. A silent muttering of Kidō herself cloaked her so she'd ghost across the battlefield, awaiting her next opportunity to strike. Though she knew, in due time, she will reveal herself to the world.

She'd take center stage and the charade will end. A smile encroached on her face at the feeling of all eyes turning at her; and their looks before they became a part of her.

* * *

"_**So**_," Barragan Louisenbairn whispered, his empty eye sockets turning to look at the distance separating him from the landscape not far from the hazardous thunderstorm. "_**Commander Tōsen has been slain, by someone with Reiatsu akin to an Arrancar. I don't suppose you know anything about that**_," He turned, inquiring his opponent from the distance. "_**Would you, Captain Ukitake?**_"

Jushirō was too distracted to hear properly what his opponent said. Because of his Shikai, Sogyō no Kotowari, he was able to keep their fight at an even stalemate with neither gaining ground. But just recently, a series of familiar signatures and some long since forgotten had come to the battle.

Following Aizen's clash with Ichigo Kurosaki was the feeling of Kisuke Urahara and his band of allies with the Substitute Shinigami's comrades; the one that the Segunda pointed out was one Kensei Muguruma, one that he had heard vanished into the ether many years ago after a sudden masked intruder helped them and Kisuke along with Tessai escape. Missing for over a hundred years to the point they were presumed dead, only now did he realize Kisuke's machinations enabled their survival.

But that didn't hold his attention compared to what transpired seconds later.

Captain Shunsui's depletion of Reiryoku was felt as the far-off sight and sound of another tower plummeting to the earth in the south corner of the mock town. Along with his third and fourth seats with a complement of Kidō officers, lives were snuffed out in an instant. By who else, but Aizen's left hand, Gin Ichimaru.

"No, I'm as surprised as you are," Jushirō somberly replied, doing his best to hide his grief he felt for the death of his best friend and partner.

"_**Oh**_," The Segunda caught the sight of the plummeting tower in the horizon. "_**It seems our dear Commander Ichimaru has took it upon himself to dispatch the Shinigami guarding the southern tower. I do hope none of them were close friends of yours**_," He sarcastically spread his bone-clad teeth in a mocking grin. "_**That would be terrible**_."

Releasing a solemn sigh, the white-haired Captain closed his eyes. He reached out with his senses to check on the state of the southern front. Despite the casualties he felt remnants of the Onmitsukidō lurking in the shadows already underway with placing the Kidō tools over the elapsing dimension fabric. Knowing that things were still held at bay, delaying his fight with the Espada couldn't stand any longer.

"Lieutenant Omaeda, Third Seat Sayuri," He gravely called out, knowing they were hiding not far away at a pile of rubble. Looking up with trepidation and uncertainty they'd hear his words with curiosity. "Please, go reinforce the South Tower. With its collapse the barrier reinforcements will need people of your strength guarding it."

"But...what about you?!" Omaeda cried out with a rapid set of sweat complemented blinks.

"I shall deal with this one," The Captain assured with swords crossed into an X formation. Eyes opened with a fearsome glare aimed at the Espada. Reiatsu rose up in an azure pool that rippled the fabric of space around him. The air swam around him, kicking up into a torrential whirlwind of liquid Reishi. With the sky howling with the power being generated that shook the earth and billowed wildly over the two Shinigami officers below, five words shouted with the luminous shining blast of power. "**Bankai, Junzen Sogyō no Kotowari!**"

The appearance of the Shinigami would surprise the likes of the God King of Hueco Mundo. Before his hollow eyes he saw his talisman-roped dual swords replaced by a pair of blunt iron poles. Chords of crimson linked like tassles from the pommels up to a floating ring mounted so its center was behind Jushirō's head. In it were a pair of fish composed of Reishi, swimming in opposing directions while colored of blue a moonlit aura of water shimmered over his body from surface's refraction of light.

"_**Your Bankai? Your Kidō-type Zanpakutō certainly alludes to you being defenseless by not baring teeth of a sword's edge**_," Barragan chuckled at the sight, swinging his keratin arm in front of his face before tossing it to the side. From his regal sleeve came an enormous double-bladed black ax, its ebony pole handle endowed with golden chains to the skeletal head. between both blades of the weapon. "_**Gran Caída will be sufficient in dealing with a Shinigami's Bankai such as that**_."

"GO! NOW!" Jushirō shouted, crossing his poles defensively in front of him.

Without much deliberation, Omaeda grabbed Sayuri by the arm and pulled her along. While she didn't resist as much before, her eyes couldn't help but gravitate towards the pair battling in the sky. The sight of the Arrancar's ax raised above his head and then slashing the air, unleashing an infinitely swifter wave of decomposing Reishi towards him. But no sound would come from its contact.

Instead, the entirety of its substance vanished.

"_What just happened?_" The Segunda thought with perplexity. "_His Shikai ordinarily adjusted and fired back the same attack. Does his Bankai not do the same?_"

"Why do you hesitate?" His enemy asked with a deadly glare. "I'm right here, Arrancar."

If he had the ability to twitch, he would've done so. Angrily.

"_**Do not patronize me, Shinigami**_," He sneered, entombing his black weapon with an eerie aura of Respira. Pulling it back to his side, he'd unleashing a cleaving motion that'd sweep over the skyline entirely, snuffing out the light itself. Amidst the darkness a sudden pair of sweeping motions immediately wiped away the ebbing shadows of deterioration. There it was replaced by an enchanting glow of lunar sea light, painting a majestic visage for the solemnly glaring Jushirō Ukitake. The sight of it made the Espada livid with realization. "_**You're, absorbing Respira's power?!**_"

"My Zanpakutō has the ability to absorb and resend the Reishi of an enemy's attacks against them. My Bankai is an evolution of that concept," The Captain explained, crossing his blunt instruments against each other. Rivulets of liquid spirit energy coalesced upon it, growing brighter by the second. When it took the appearance of glowing staves of light he ground the weapons against each other, unleashing a monstrous wave of towering liquid Reishi towards the Espada. "All power becomes a burden to my enemies. **Taiin Minami!**"

What ordinary water could do on such a scale was pitiful compared to what a large body of Reishi could inflict. With such immense power aimed towards him, Barragan focused Respira through his weapon and cut the wave in half. As the rest of it collided into the earth beneath him with an explosive pressure, engulfing the land in flames, he was surprised to see the normally defensive Shinigami rushing towards him.

Deflecting a thrust from one of his poles with a swing of his ax, he grasped another aiming to hit his head. A sudden draining sensation made him aware of his folly, forcing him to unleashing a Respira from his mouth towards the Shinigami. Pulling back, he'd swing his free handed rod to absorb the essence of the breath of death sent his way. Maintaining a focused glare he crossed his weapons again in what seemed to be a signature stance.

"_Without those tools of his he can't absorb Reishi. If I can maneuver around to his blind spot I'm sure to land a deathblow with ease_," Barragan planned with an unseen scowl.

With a raise of Gran Caída he performed a surprisingly powerful throw towards the Captain. During its rotation, Barragan spewed several whipping tendrils of Respira, sinuously moving around the weapon but never brushing up contact with it. Watching Jushirō use one of his weapons to deflect the mighty ax, a maneuver that him reel back with the physical force of its attack and the other to absorb his Respira he'd make his move.

Using a cunning employment of Sonido, he appeared directly next to Jushirō's right flank. His skeletal digits painted black of intantly assimilated Reiatsu, forming into a ball of dark Reishi. The resulting was a purple outlined thuum of Reishi, sent with titanic width and destructive power.

"_**Cero Oscuras**_," He whispered out, watching his Cero tear through the cityscape straight across the center. Like an inferno it cut deep into the urban earth, leaving nothing but ash in its wake for kilometers on end. The deformed path of his attack would leave no survivors if it collided into any being stupid enough to not evade it. Having seen the white coat of his opponent become dust in the fading blackness he felt confident he had dispatched him.

That was, till he heard the whoosh of a Shunpo sound behind him. Gran Caída in hand, he twisted around to lay a blur of cutting black, missing all by a hair's breadth as his opponent ducked below. Shikhakushō clad Jushirō remorselessly jabbed both of his iron rods into his enemy's midsection.

"_**Like that'll do you any-!**_" Barragan began to shout, his weapon raised to cut him down. The sensation of pain following the eruption of his backside of Respira, however, caused him to f all short. "-_**B-Bastard!**_"

"During our exchange before, I had noticed that no matter how many times I struck you with your own attack you brushed it off with ease. I purposefully avoided using your own attack against you so you'd let your guard down at the moment of triumph," Jushirō explained, doing well to look up as the insides eroded as quickly as the outsides. "Your power of _Age_ is absolute, but that never made you exempt. Thanks to it, I was able to defend against your last attack by wrapping it within my Reiatsu as well as finish you off. My sincerest apologies for the deception, oh King of Hueco Mundo."

"_**UNFORGIVABLE!**_" The Segunda shouted in rabid anger. Even as his lower body disappeared his weapon swung down to cut his enemy in two. Watching him evade with a swift Shunpo, he snarled with his weapon shaking in his grip. "_**Damn you, Shinigami! I hope Aizen and the rest of you kill each other. None of you were fit to best me! HOLLOW KIND SUCH AS ME WILL NEVER BE LESSER OF YOU!**_"

"I never claimed to be stronger than you, Espada. Your own power became your own undoing. Perhaps you should ponder your own hubris in the next life," Jushirō stated solemnly, closing his eyes as his two poles clasped together into a single sealed blade. As he sheathed it, his eyes reopened to watch the last of the Segunda disappear in an abysmal wave of ash, his crown falling to become one with the void it sentenced all others to.

"_Shunsui, I'm sorry I couldn't protect you_," He apologized silently, eyes closed and head bowed. "_I will do all I can to protect those you cherished. Count on me, my old friend_."

* * *

Coyote Starrk was no stranger to the concept of loss. He had felt it for countless years since before he had split apart, unknowingly becoming an Arrancar just as his other half did. Even then their friends still died that were in awe of his strength and rallied by him. His own power became a burden, something no one could ever truly understand.

That was, until he met him; Sōsuke Aizen. From him he felt power even greater than himself and an ambition to soar higher than the heavens. He had gathered the best that Hueco Mundo had to offer, building an army of strong Shinigamified Hollows. It was the perfect medication for the lonliness he felt. While he felt comfortable with the Espada he had felt still wary of approaching any Arrancar beneath his level of strength, fear that he'd kill them by simply being next to them.

Still, he was respected and even worth bragging about by those he encountered. It gave him comfort that he could treat others as equals even if they were less so.

But, assurredly, they were snuffed out. One by one they fell in battle, wiped out by the Shinigami. The pack he yearned to run with was becoming less populated. Among the ranks were simply himself and the most elite soldiers under Aizen. Now even Commander Tōsen and Segunda Barragan fell to enemy blades.

Crashing his blade against Unohana's, he couldn't help but bear a look of melancholy. They had nearly been claimed by the aforementioned Espada's last attack before his depleting Reiatsu vanished. Now, he almost wish he had been caught in the crossfire.

"What's with that look, Espada?" The Fourth Division Captain asked as her Reishi blade ground against his. "You can't be, sad, by your comrades' defeat?"

"Maybe I am," The Primera retorted dryly, releasing a gesture-less blast of his Cero from his chest. While deflected it with her sword he jumped up to perform a downward stroke of his weapon. Watching her casually backhand the flat of his sword away, he watched his mark erupt the earth and create an intense blast wave. Feeling a kick land into his stomach making him flinch, but managed to twist around to parry a follow-up slash against his aerial sprawling frame. Flipping back onto his feet, he grimaced as he watched a handful of daggers thrown his way.

"_Dammit_," He bemoaned inwardly, quickly flourishing his sword to deflect the projectiles. Realizing it was a distraction, he performed Sonido to avoid a powerful slash sent by his enemy. With the arc of light carrying on for several dozen meters emphasizing her lethal ability, he glowered as he raised his sword to once again fend off a flurry of sword strikes by her. "_Why do I have to fight somebody so strong?_"

"To think Zaraki was beaten by someone with such low self-esteem," Unohana sighed with disappointment. She had felt the disappearance of Shunsui not long ago but masked her feelings about an age-old associate of hers. She had known him since he was but a child, back when she was a young woman. Now he and Captain Sui-Feng added to the casualties that she couldn't save. "But I guess I shouldn't talk, given I wasn't able to save my own comrades. My body truly is only fitted for the art of killing in the end."

Saying that, Starrk was greeted with the sight of the one-eyed manta ray creature soaring over the sky. Performing a nosedive, it'd spiral till it contorted into a narrow shape. In a shearing of organic tissue into a mantle of Reiatsu, it'd form the nodachi he remembered her carrying. In her grip, she smiled with a blissful expression, her free hand untying the knots in her braided hair.

"Regardless, it's good that I can wield my sword against an enemy," She announced, her hair unfurled to reveal a scar above her cleavage at the top of her kosode's opening. Once again her incredible Reiatsu filled the air, smothering the Primera in its lethal intent. With a look between apprehension and sorrow, he raised his sword up in a defensive stance.

"KICK HER ASS, STARRK!" They'd hear a sprite voice, youthful and feisty, from the distance. From a still standing structure she stood upon the roof, arms raised and hands cupped over her mouth. Lilynette brazenly decided to tell her partner and friend to shape up. "YOU'RE THE PRIMERA! SHOW HER WHAT THAT MEANS!"

"Lilynette," He replied, while Unohana looked on with confusion. Turning to look away with a look of stricken fear, he shuddered visibly. "I'm...I couldn't save anyone...I'll be alone-"

"HEY! WHAT DID I JUST SAY?!" She cried out, kicking off the rooftop with a landing run. She huffed and puffed as she continued to shout to him. "YOU'RE NUMBER ONE! YOU WON'T LOSE TO THIS HAG! YOU CAN'T LOSE TO ANYBODY! AFTER ALL," Skidding to a halt, she'd catch her breath with her hands on her knees, finishing her sentence as Starrk looked at her with surprise. "You got me, so you'll never be alone. Right, Starrk?"

For a long while, he felt he lost the ability to speak. He couldn't help but remember the day they met, two halves of the same whole. The longing for the friendship became too great of a burden to bear so their original split them in two. With barely rags to call clothes, they huddled close and called each other friends under the light of Hueco Mundo's moon.

"**What's your name?**"

"**Starrk. Coyote Starrk. And you?**"

"**Lilynette Gingerbuck. What are we going to do, Starrk?**"

"**Anything we want**."

"**Then, where are we going to go?**"

"**Anywhere. We'll go together. No matter where**."

A dawning of remembrance from that pledge he gave to her was like a punch to the gut. Aizen's promise never counted on them being separated. Even if their friends withered away to dust, they still had each other. Till the end of time, they'd never be alone.

"Who's this kid, Arrancar? Your Fracción?" Unohana asked with an annoyed expression; like a predator whose meal is interrupted, she was eager to be rid of distractions.

"Yeah," Starrk replied, his face and voice becoming more stoic than it had been before. Turning to look at her, Lilynette looked at her angrily, sticking a tongue out at her. Her antics were silenced when the Espada's hand touched her mask covered head. "But it's a little more than that. Ordinarily our Zanpakutō seal our Hollowfied power. You see, we are one being and we gain our true form when we combine."

"_Fusion? What kind of technique is this?_" Unohana furrowed her brows with further misunderstanding. She had never seen or let alone heard of such an unorthodox method of releasing their powers. In a halo of light spiraling around Lilynette, the smaller Arrancar disappeared entirely...

...and her Reiatsu merged that with the other's.

"**Kick About**," Coyote Starrk declared in a rare shout. "**Los Lobos!**"

An azure-white flame of Reiatsu surged upward, shooting high up into the sky while burning intensely around the earth. What Unohana find strange as there was no heat coming from the Reiatsu. In fact, she could barely feel anything emitting off the maelstrom of projected power. Her eyes widened as the last tongue disappeared, a cloud of smoke parting to reveal a crouched Coyote Starrk.

His appearance changed in mere aesthetics. A white buttoned-up leather uniform with grey furred sleeves, leggings, around his waist and up around his neck in a collar. With a black lens hollow eye piece to symbolize his mask fragment, both hands wielded what looked like silver ringed triggers on embroidered silver sided black pistols. Standing up with a huffing sigh, he looked forward with renewed vigor, cocking one pistol right next to his head to his right visible eye.

"Let's go, Lilynette," He murmured lowly.

* * *

Tōshirō couldn't have described an uphill battle more apropos than he had now. The Tres Espada she may be, but Tier Harribel was a monster compared to him. She shrugged off attacks virtually unfazed and continued to incur exhaustion to damage on his body. He bled profusely from two deep gashes over his chest while bruises collected over his ice and Shikhakushō covered body. With a battered Haori still clinging to him, the raging storm around him only furthered the conflict's decaying status quos.

"It looks like you're running out of time, Captain Hitsugaya," The Espada belittled him as her eyes observed his deteriorating ice petals. What was once half was now only a third intact. "Your Bankai is about to disappear, isn't it? When the last of those ice petals dissipate, your time has run out."

He could only grimace as he looked at the slow decay of the purple hued frozen water floating behind him. With sweat beading down his face, he looked on with a determined expression.

"Not going to confirm or deny it? That's fine," Tier sighed, her body propelling itself faster than the wounded Shinigami could perceive. With a swing of her enormous weapon, she intended to cut him down with a mantle of water wrapped around it. "I'll kill you while you still have some dignity left."

Before both of their eyes a flash of gold intercepted the enormous weapon. As moisture splashed with the concussive wave of her powerful stroke she witnessed a buzzing arrow of light emerge from the shield as well. Evading with a swift Sonido, she felt an equally fast signature appear to her upper right. A swipe of her Reiatsu wrapped pata deflected a horde of Reishi arrows while making her enemy backpedal to avoid the kickback of her counter. The final attack was a thrust from behind, causing her to twist around and catch the weapon, halting it from reaching her barely covered bosom.

"So," Tier spoke with cool realization, her hand wrapped around the upper point of the double-headed lance, eyes staring down at the centauress using one hand to direct it up at her successor. "The traitor shows her face. Didn't think you'd have the guts to do so."

"The only traitor is the one who serves that monster," She snapped back, forming a Cero at the tip of the weapon.

With a sigh, the Tres Espada turned the weapon away so the beam of scarlet light would punch a hole in the stormy heavens. Pulling her in close, she'd land a kick to the centauress Arrancar's abdomen, sending her crashing into the earth below. Tossing her lance up into the air she threw it down with prejudice, her target narily avoiding a deadly mark when Nelliel performed a dexterous somersault away from her weapon's crash.

Her attention returned with icy focus, her eyes picked up several dozen ice pillars rise up from the water filled earth below. Pivoting around her in a ring formation, she turned to glare at the injured and exhausted Tōshirō point his blade towards her. With a counter-clockwise turn, he proclaimed with a fierce shout.

"**Sennen Hyōrō****!**"

Colliding into the Tres Espada, an icy prison was formed, giving them a moment's respite from her ferocity.

"You people need to leave...now," Captain Hitsugaya declared between heavy pants. The rainfall did little to hide the sweat crawling down his scalp and face, the injuries he sustained and endured through wearing on him. Even still he was determined to finish his fight, despite the aid of the former invaders. "I don't know how long that'll hold her."

"Of course a Shinigami would wave off help, even when he was about to be cut in half," Uryū replied bitterly with an adjustment of his glasses. Orihime, while using his platform for balance simply concentrated her barrier to surround the Captain. She focused on his injuries first, finding it difficult to work on his abnormally rising Reiatsu.

"It'll take me a few minutes to heal you. The Reiatsu clogging your wounds will need to be rejected first before I can restore your body back to its peak," She declared with a firm tone of concentration.

"Oi! Did you not hear anything I said?!"

"We did," Nelliel answered with a buzzing arrival of Sonido, her staunch figure gallantly standing before the three as she saw the ice prison crack. "We just don't like listening to authority figures."

In an expulsion of torrential water, the super heated wall of vapor swirled around the Arrancar as her immense Reiatsu weighed upon them all. As they steeled themselves a handful of new arrivals landed in front of them. A surprised gasp let loose from Nelliel at the sight of them, let alone her remembrance of the trio.

"Leave it to us, baldy," Hiyori declared as the high altitude moist air flapped her jacket across her soaked body. Grinning toothily, she held her unsheathed Zanpakutō out, just as Lisa did. Momo somehow wound up ditching her sword between scenes. "We'll take care of this Espada whose giving you so much trouble."

"Three against one? A suitable handicap," Tier smiled lightly. "Unfortunate for you that you're in my domain."

Lisa surprised the fiery spirited Visored by being the first one to charge. With a sword drawn, she attempted to slash towards her, blocked by the Arrancar's bare hand. Tossed aside Hiyori came in with a thrust, to which the Espada kicked away and pulled her leg back to heel kick her jaw across the skyline. During the exchange she witnessed the green haired jumpsuit clad Shinigami bull rush towards her.

"To take me on with your bare hands takes guts," She proclaimed, pulling her pata back and swinging it towards her body with remorseless strength. "But ultimately foolish!"

The instantaneous rise of Reiatsu of Hollow power overlapping the girl's own transpired as her figure disappeared from where her weapon originally presided. Instead she'd find her gloved fist crashing into her waist, bowing her forward. Gaping aloud she felt the wind knocked out of her with saliva spewing out of her mouth.

"_**Mashirooooooo**_," Mashiro proclaimed in a Hollowfied tone, propelling the Espada across the sky. "_**PUNCH!**_"

Skidding across the sky, she grimaced as she clutched her abdomen. While her Hierro buffeted the majority of the damage, she did _feel _that attack. The sudden ignition of other Hollowfied powers alerted her, making her Pesquisa percieve them like spontaneous combustions.

"_**Smash! Haguro Tonbo!**_" Lisa announced as she slammed the pommel of her Zanpakutō into the mouth of the sheathe, spinning it to form a elongated pole handled monk spade edged spear. Twirling it around her body like it was a simple baton, she swerved like an axe to cut as much as smash her opponent with its sheer weight. The Espada casually used a wave of Cascada to deter her, but the rapid motions of her Hollow empowered Shikai slashed the moisture apart with ease.

Somersaulting over the Visored's assault, the Arrancar felt the other partner appear behind her vertically inverted frame with her own released sword.

"_**Chop Cleanly, Kubikiri Orochi!**_" The twin-tailed Hollowfied Shinigami snarled out with a downward chop towards her target. Making contact with a well timed spin parry of the pata, she sent the Espada rocketing down to the earth with a visible explosion of disheveled earth. Chuckling she tilted the mask partially upright so her blackened eyes and cocky grin was exposed. "How did ya like that, bitch?!"

"Wow," Orihime remarked with an owlish set of blinks. "Those three are really strong."

"To put an Espada on the defense like that is an accomplishment in of itself," Uryū remarked as he straightened his moist spectacles.

"It won't be enough," Tōshirō told them as he visibly grimaced at the sight of the Arrancar no longer at the crash site. Even through the Shun Shun Rikka barrier he could tell she had already recovered. "That only slowed her down a little."

"**Dientes del Tiburón**!"

The sudden sound of static triggered alertness in the pint-sized powerhouse. Twisting around while pulling her mask fully on again, her cleaver barely staved off what looked like an enormous water-formed jaw of a shark. Opening her mask she released a Cero to destroy the water construct, left open to a follow-up La Gota spear. Crashing into her with explosive power, her clothes were shredded and blood spewed from a partially lower jawed mask.

"_**Be careful!**_" Mashiro placated her with a timely catch.

"_**I'm fine**_," Hiyori grimaced as she wrenched herself from her comrade's grip.

"_**You don't look it**_," Lisa commented.

"_**SHUT UP!**_"

"_**Wait, what is she-?**_" Mashiro inquired with a startled squeak. The other two also gawked as a yellow outlined sphere of blackness gathered at the tip of the shark tooth shaped weapon in the Espada's hand. Swathing over the whole of her weapon she formed a blade of darkness, tinged with golden tongues.

"**Cero Oscuras**," She whispered with a slash, unleashing an arc of abysmal Reishi towards the trio.

Replying with their own rapidly formed Cero, the trio's blended together into a singular beam of destructive force. Despite its formidable pressure the blade's shape cut through it with ease, the darkness erroding the light towards the three. But in a moment of hesitation, Nelliel placed a palm into the swathing shadow and inhaled deeply. Swallowing the black Reishi like soup, her gloved palm burned at the contact of such dangerous power but endured regardless of her own safety.

When Tier stared wide-eyed, her face became guarded as Nelliel screamed a Cero Doble of Cero Oscuras back at her.

"Impressive," She murmured, coalescing a torrent of rainfall over her body, generating a mantle of protective Reiatsu over her skin. With her pata crashing into the ball of volatile energy, she ripped it upwards, releasing a golden arc of Reishi filled water to split the attack in half. With both halves departing into the distance to explode in two independent fireballs, Nelliel and the Visoreds stared aghast at Tier's unharmed state. "But, in this constant fall of water, I am never without a weapon or a shield to call my own. Your powers are considerable and had this been a clearer day, I'd be having a tougher time, but," She finished with a stoic glare, her eyes glowing yellow as a flash of lightning opaqued her intimidating frame in a darkened silhouette. "I have not sacrificed enough to deserve to be pressured by the likes of you."

"Dammit," Uryū swore under his breath, priming Ginrei Kojaku up. "Looks like I'll have to get involved too-"

"That won't be necessary."

Orihime looked on in awe as her Quincy friend turned to look surprised. Eventually the Visoreds and Arrancars also looked on with surprise. Among a cloud of cold vapor emitting off the Captain's body, wounds healed and arm restored, the last petal of Daiguren Hyōrinmaru disappeared. His body no longer looked that of a child but a full grown man. The voice that came out deeply and composed, spewed cold air from his mouth as the rain surrounding them instantly turned into snowfall.

"Ordinarily, I've never reached the point where I needed to use my Bankai's full potential. But if that happens, the last petal disappears to show Daiguren Hyōrinmaru's matured power. My young body doesn't exactly have control over it," Tōshirō announced as he stood up, now clad with greaves of ice on his knees down to his feet, similarly with branished arm guards leading up to wrists and pauldrons over his shoulders. Gone were the wings and stood a white-haired man armed with renewed confidence as he stared down the Espada. "So my Zanpakutō came up with a solution by aging my body temporarily while I'm in this state. From this point on, Tier Harribel, this is my domain."

* * *

When the 11th Division's elite soldiers showed up, the Tres Bestias were up to the fight of their lives. Ikkaku's surprising dexterous three-part pole spear pushed Apacci back considerably, even matching her strength with his own. Yumichika's evasive skills and own ferocity put Sun-Sung back, using her own counters to keep him from getting too close. Franceska on the other was unable to pin down the disappearing and reappearing Maki whose unique Zanpakutō kept him from facing her at a direct confrontation.

Not to mention, Rangiku's ash cloud continued to harass them anytime they made headway.

"Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!" Apacci cursed violently, swinging her hands and legs in tandem, the pole colliding handily to block her attacks. When his spear edge came around to stab her in the eye, she leaned her head to the right, earning a nick across her cheek. Hissing she released a Cero from her antlers, forcing him to evade as it exploded distantly. With balled up fists she fumed at Ikkaku when he formed it back into a red-tassled spear. "You think you're so great, don't ya?!"

"Nah, just lucky," The 3rd Seat replied with a candid grin.

"FU-!"

"Apacci, chill," Franceska chastised her coolly, her sword blocking the barely visible Nijigasumi her enemy wielded. "These aren't enemies to be trifled with. Unlike milk jugs who relied on parlor tricks, these guys are real fighters."

"Indeed," Sun-Sung swam in the air, swiping her tail to nearly crash into Yumichika only to see him vanish with a well-timed Shunpo. Her sleeve popped open to send several snakes towards his reappearing frame, their mouths opening to shoot out blades. His Shikai guarded against them and then twisted around their frames to leap towards her. Uncovering her mouth she spewed a Cero towards him, forcing him back with minor damage and smoke trailing off his body. "We should use _that _and end this little scuffle."

"Right," The Amazon warrior Arrancar concurred, turning to look at Apacci for confirmation. With a grimace she too reached for her left arm.

"What are they doing?" Maki questioned aloud.

Before either of his fellow officers could respond, a scene of grotesque mutilation transpired. All three Arrancars tore off their left appendages, all three of them seeming to gravitate towards each other. Bubbling blood and flesh merged, forming a fusing growth of abominable proportions. Swelling upward it'd cast a dark shadow over everyone as a colossal being was born from it. Possessing a snake headed tail, deer hooves for feet and antlers over its nasal region, its fur covering most of its body and the muscular definition from the latter most of the trio.

"Say hello to Ayon!" Apacci cried out with a feral grin, despite the blood dripping stump where her arm used to be. "Using our three left arms, it's a powerhouse of monstrous power. He'll crush you under his feet, isn't that right?!"

Despite her verbal tirade, the monster didn't seem keen on doing anything. In fact it seemed to be turning its head with curiosity at its surroundings. Raising a hand up to feel the water, it craned its neck up to look at the sky. A low rumble sound came from its throat as if it was basking in the rainfall.

"What is it...doing?" The deer Arrancar asked exasperatedly.

"I think it's never seen rain before," Sun-Sung noted, looking up at the sky as well. "It probably is just enjoying the sensation."

"Typical, Ayon doesn't do anything unless it feels like it," Franceska palms her face with her remaining arm.

The Shinigami observing it could feel an emptiness from just looking at it. Darkness incarnate, its monstrous Reiatsu swirled into an abyss that had no end. Rangiku shuddered at the sensation while Ikkaku cracked a grin along with Yumichika. Maki steeled himself, raising his nigh invisible blade upwards in a presenting manner.

"Be careful!" Yachiru called out from the distant building top. "That thing is stronger than Kenny, so watch out!"

"Are you ser-?" Rangiku began to ask, only to watch its looming form instantly in front of her. Gasping she raised her Shikai hilt in readiness to block, only to see a blinding ray of light shimmer around her. In the aftermath she felt herself jolted from her position, now in the arms of Fifth Seat Maki, barreling her to a building top. In the wake of that moment, a thunderous crash uplifting the city block erupted as the full weight of Ayon's punch halted where Rangiku was seconds ago. "...just with a single movement, it caused that much destruction?!"

"I'm getting goosebumps," The debris stained Ikkaku stated with a grin, twisting his Zanpakutō in an arc with readiness. "I wasn't going to reveal this out in the open. But now, after hearing what our Lieutenant said and confirming what I felt, it seems like I got no choice. BAN-!"

A fist larger than he was bouldered into his frame, shattering his Shikai in hand. Let loose in a a catapulting air pocket, the 3rd Seat was seen reeling through a number of structures, ending with a fifth as it'd collapse on top of him. Ayon himself didn't even look in his direction, as if he had swatted a fly in his vicinity.

"HA! Serves that bastard right!" Apacci gleefully shrieked with carnal delight.

"No one can stand up to Ayon," Franceska boasted with a toothy smile that Sun-Sung nodded with affirmation.

"I wonder what they'll do, now they saw how quickly they can be beaten?" The naga Arrancar asked with a dubious turn of her head, watching the effeminate Shinigami freeze in place at the horrifying spectacle that transpired.

"In one blow, he took out Ikkaku," Yumichika spoke under his breath with kindled alarm. Rearing back, he performed Shunpo to move away from the now motionless eerie giant. Grimacing he landed near the Lieutenant and Fifth Seat. "This is beyond any of us. But I don't think it'll just let us run away."

"I've got a move that might stop him, but I need time," Maki muttered under his breath.

"I'll buy you that time," The effeminate Officer nodded with agreement. With an exchange of looks with Rangiku the two determined to work with each other. In a split motion of Shunpo, rapidly disappearing from the spot Ayon's next urban wrecking fist rocketed towards. The wake of the shattering shockwave, a storm of wreckage rose up into the air.

"**Dance ye fragments of society. Soar by the puppet strings of fate's guiding hand**," Yumichika chanted, alight in his lime green Reiatsu as he raised his left hand in front of his face. With his orbs glowing the spinning debris was sent hurtling like meteorites towards the standing giant, crashing with artillery momentum. "**Hadō #57, Daichi Tenyō**!"

In the cloud of dust circling the stationary abomination, Rangiku manipulated her ash into a tornado that swirled up from his hooves to his head. Then she chanted under her breath while holding her hilt, transferring a translucent halo of yellow over its handle. In turn, it transformed the twister into a cloud of sparkling gold dust.

"**Ropes of enlightenment, twine those of ignorance. Offenses be shackled and the unlawful be bound into stillness. Bakudō #63, Sajō Sabaku**!"

With the finished incantation of the Mid-Level Kidō a high line of chains enraptured the enormous hybrid being. A low rumbling snarl could be heard but it didn't move an inch. Eerie silence followed as rays of luminous rainbow light shuttered in sheets, cast like paper in the air. Conforming around the being in a incredible proportioned sphere, the Tres Bestias winced at the brightness of the luminous orb cast by the Shinigami.

"D-Damn! What the Hell is that?!" Apacci growled out with her sole arm shielding her eyes from the shining prison holding their best captive.

"**Saigyoku Nijigasumi**," Maki explained, side-glancing the trio from afar with a serious glint in his eyes. "My Zanpakutō bends, refracts and manipulates light. With my Reiatsu I can even cage somebody in an unbreakable prison that slowly crushes the life out of anyone caught within it. Your pet will die where even shadows cannot be cast."

For a moment, the deer Arrancar felt inclined to leap with feral rage at the Shinigami. He dared to use such an underhanded technique on their creation? She felt inclined to make him pay in full for such impudence.

But then, she heard Sun-Sung chuckle behind her raised sleeve.

"You really think highly of yourself, Shinigami," The serpent Hollow sang out, her eyes narrowing at him. "For someone who isn't a Captain, you have a surprising amount of power. But, to someone like Ayon..."

As she spoke, the shrinking orb began to crack and shake. With surprise of his own, Maki Ichinose gaped as the luminous prison was ripped apart like glass. The explosion of Reiatsu blew back the environment as a thunderous ear-rattling roar from the abominable creation roared with arms splayed out. With a crater beneath the feet of his enemy he looked on with sheer terror, as flames of blood ebbed off the drab hued skin of the entity that stared at him with unseen eyes.

"...you might as well be a paper tiger in front of a storm," She finished, watching Maki's body get squashed between two enormous palms. While the crater edged street was split apart with a buffering wind that generated across the wrecked battlefield, only blood splattered the grounds of asphalt and mingled sewer water soil. Ayon inspected its ichor stained palms while the deceased Shinigami's comrades looked on with shock.

"Maki!" Yumichika shouted out loud. To his chagrin the monster noticed him, its hand swinging its back towards him. With his Shikai raised to defend, the Reiatsu that enveloped him send him shrieking down like a burning projectile. Crashing against the earth with his back, he spat out blood and bile, his body feeling wrecked.

"**Hadou #34, Shakkah****ō**!" Rangiku shouted out, releasing a substantial cannonball of Reishi towards the monster's head. The explosion produced revealed only smoke with no superficial damage even to bear. A hideous eye opened where she struck, purple rings around the pupil with a yellow sclera that had red veins running across it. A sphere of crimson primed before the ocular region, releasing a Cero to consume her body entirely.

"Lieutenant Matsumuto!" The 5th Seat thought with fright, feeling her Reiatsu and her visage disappear once the energy wave struck the ground. As the fire painted a dreadful overcast of orange and red he looked up to see Ayon's left hoof raised over his body, casting a shadow over him. Bracing himself for impact a lurch was felt as tiny hands grappled his uniform, yanking him out of the way of a titanic crash. Seeing the pink haired superior made his heart jolt with relief and alarm in equal measure. "L-Lieutenant Kusajishi!"

"If you died, Kenny would be sad. I don't want Kenny to be sad," She declared with a smile.

Saying this in her rapid leap, a pale scaled serpent smashed bodily into the pair, sending Yumichika crashing into a building pile. Before he could get his bearings he saw with horror that the sentient tail of Ayon had constricted around the childish Shinigami. Even as she struggled at the pressure, she wasn't prepared for the drops of drool that cast over her face; and the following moist maw that closed over her head to her upper body. Amidst the flames the macabre scene transpired before the paralyzed 5th Seat, watching the Lieutenant get swallowed whole and squirm beneath bulging scales down its throat up into the beast's gullet.

"_This...this isn't happening...this can't be real!_" The bloodied and broken officer thought as tears welled up in his eyes. When Ayon turned its bulging eyes towards him a fist was reared back. Cocked back it let loose like a bullet, aiming to completely smash him into paste.

But it didn't happen. Instead he felt his body blown back by a dramatic wind that sent countlets fragments of the building pile with him. Looking in his place was the sight of the Ryōka warrior, Aaron-Chad.

"You-!" He croaked as he landed on all fours, still too ragged to fully stand.

"Impressive," Sado Yasutora's effigy spoke lowly, lowering his right arm that had been broken and bloodied from the staving of the blow. "To think you'd have so much power for a Fracción creation. You really are the Tres Espada's right hands to make such a monster. But," He paused, leaping up with a left arm transformed into a white-red limb with a spike jutting out of his shoulder. "It doesn't mean I'm going to let you rampage! **LA MUERTE**!"

In response, a crimson dye cloak of Reiatsu swam around the monster's right arm. Cocking it back in time for Aaron-Chad's assault, both enormous and diminutive fist collided. The resulting connecting became a crack that split the earth between them, forming half a kilometer of split distended soil. With a vertical ring of Reishi silencing the rain for seconds afterwards, the smoke lapsing between the two revealed much to the Calavera's surprise that their attacks were nullified with no damage to the latter.

"_What monstrous strength! I put Nnoitra, and Tesra's strength combined with Rudbornn along Zommari's to its fullest extent!_" Aaroniero thought through the duplicated body of Chad. "_Even the power of two Espada, a Fracción plus a Privaron and this considerable human's isn't enough. Just what IS this creature?!_"

Distracted for a second too long, Aaron-Chad's body was grasped by the other arm of Ayon. The crushing vice caused him to yell out in pain. Pulled towards its face a saliva webbed mouth opened, revealing rows of teeth caging a gate into the abyss. Pulled into the shadow the defeated body could only leave out a single gasp of resigned disappointment.

"What a waste."

A dramatic clasp of teeth over the body produced a shower of gore over the fiery wasteland. Yumichika twitched with apprehension and disbelief. In a matter of seconds Aaron-Chad's body was ground up into chunks and swallowed. Blood soaked drool leaked off the rain sliding off his thick muscular form. The beast of the Tres Bestias seemed unstoppable to all.

"Well-Well-Well," Yumichika heard a voice along with a trio of feet hit the ground. Looking over he was speechless, remembering precisely who these men were. Long ago they were Captains but had been deemed disposed of by illegal Hollowfication experiments. But now they stood in human garbs, one being an english gentleman's another a green track suit and the last was a dress shirt with a tie with beige slacks and an impressive grey collared trench coat. The latter most of which had a unsheathed sword casually tapping on his right shoulder, a crooked smile spread as he looked through the rain at the monster before them. "Looks like in the short talk I had with Captain Commander, his combat specialists couldn't cut it out here. It's alright though, I'm happy to show that old geezer up."

* * *

**A/N**: This Chapter ended up being a LOT longer than I intended. Gomen! GOMEN! I know some of you appreciate my shorter chapters but I didn't want to cut anything out here. I shortened what I could and extended what I wanted to. I hope you understand!

But in any case, I had a lot of fun. With Ichigo's battle kicking off, the Visoreds showing up to help multiple "True Forms" being revealed, the Epic conclusion of this War seems to be underway. With the body count increasing, who knows what could happen from this point on?!

Find out on the next chapter of A Predator Among Us!


	18. In The Blizzard I Rise

**In the Fall of Snowflakes**

**Lies a Land of Ash**

**Where Warriors Clash Till One Breaks**

**Standing Victorious **

**In the Fall of Snowflakes**

* * *

**Chapter 18 - In The Blizzard I Rise**

* * *

Ichigo was feeling pretty beat. The rain had never stopped, soaking him in a continuous downpour that the storm had let loose, drenching his battle worn body effectively.

Not since his fight with Ulquiorra did he feel such incredible opposing pressure. The Reiatsu that Aizen was displaying now compared to minutes ago was overwhelming. Just holding him off seemed all he could do at the moment. He was on his guard at all times, making sure that the veteran genius of the Gotei 13 didn't fool him as he had done to countless others in single combat or through manipulation.

So far he had yet to see a hint of Aizen revealing his Zanpakutō, or call out its name to him. Either he was intending on making good on the promise of breaking him physically or he had yet to feel pressured. What was he thinking in confronting Ichigo so physically when he was far more strategic as he's been reported to be?

"_Something's not right here_," Ichigo thought as he regained his breath, rising up from a crater he was sent plummeting to from the air. The storming skies thundered fantastically with a complement of lightning that crescendo across the heavens. In those flashes one could see a scuffed yet intact Aizen whom stood upon a building's rooftop with a smug grin on his face. Ichigo on the other hand felt roughed up but far from fatigued, yet was still wary about the circumstances of this fight. "_Aizen's stronger than I counted on being, but what's more he's holding back something. It's as if he wants to beat me without the use of tricks. What is he planning_?"

"What's wrong? Aren't you too far away to touch me?" A voice sounded from behind the Substitute in an instant.

"Shit!" Ichigo swore, flipping forward and palming the earth in a bid to avoid the sudden lethal attack coming from behind. Avoiding what looked like a cutting ring of Kidō from his enemy's sword, the disc split the foundation of the structure he had his gaze fixated where Aizen stood. Much to his chagrin, the static copy withered away as soon as the building collapsed under the attack. "He used either Kidō or Shunpo to make me believe he was still up there and then attacked me from behind. Dammit! So much for thinking he wasn't going to use tricks!"

"You have amazing reflexes, Ryōka boy," Sousuke Aizen commended with a smile, his sword steaming from the heat of his last stroke. Watching his prey contentedly from a dozen meters away, standing with both hands on his blade's hilt, he gazed with a haughty smile. "To think your Bankai could afford you such incredible dexterity as well. Your battles with my Arrancar have sharpened you and your Hollow powers as a result must have bolstered extraordinarily. It makes me wonder," His eyes narrow, a hint of displeasure curbing the usual jibe of his tongue. "Why are you holding back against me, Ichigo Kurosaki?"

Grimacing, the Strawberry gripped his sword tighter at his enemy's deduction. He had hoped that he'd ignore the fact he had yet to don his mask once. But with his Bankai's change in appearance he wanted to test out its fullest capabilities. He had gained an iota of satisfaction of being able to deal a few blows and even withstand this kind of enemy's offense.

But he could feel his control over the battle was slipping. The momentum he had gained had turned into his enemy's favor. He could feel exertion in these strikes, one wasn't more wasted than the other. Yet at the same time he felt like this was just the beginning of what his opponent was capable of.

Even without Kyōka Suigetsu, he was a monster that made Ulquiorra seem tame by comparison.

"If you have nothing else to say," Aizen began to speak, his body radiating with an immense Reiatsu that shook the earth and cratered the ground he stood upon. Ichigo stumbled about as liquid fire erupted from the foundations, forcing him to rise up into the air. Flames akin to pure untouched snow ignited for what seemed like the given city block. Raised up to meet him in the air was a red-eyed beast straight out fairy tales; a colossal necked dragon composed completely of silver tongues of fire. "**Hadō #99, Goryūtenmetsu**! With this attack, I'll send you to the abyss...

"Farewell, Ichigo Kurosaki."

Upon that utterance, the bestial construct of Kidō lunged forth with a terrible roar. Activating Getsuga while blocking the maw of his enemy's spell with one hand another reached up in a defensive posture over his face. Crying out as the heat washed over him, the creature arching up and over to crash into the earth below. Even as the rain evaporated in the presence of such intense flames being let loose, he landed on the ground in a bent knee squat.

Aizen watched with amusement as his spell was overpowering the boy. A smile of satisfaction breached his visage as pale fire swept across the horizon, burning up all traces of what he saw of the troublesome Ryōka. Turning on his heels, he began to dip the edge of his Zanpakutō into the scabbard when he felt it.

A tingling sensation that ran up and down his spine, the feeling of sweat ebbing from his soaked person. His eyes dilated, pupils contracting and his breath hitched. A terrifying sensation swept his person, compelling him to look over his shoulder and watch as the flames of heaven were torn in two, a dye of darkness of pure Reishi swathing over the landscape.

Embers of onyx crackled along the ashen impact site. Among it breathed a raspy voice, unholy and of death. While the upper cuffs of Ichigo's sleeves were torn with his skin burned the rest of his Shikhakushō was untarnished. Upon him burned a Reiatsu akin to Getsuga itself, just as it did over his sword. Borne over his long-haired head was the mask that he acquired during his brief Hollowfication duel against Ulquiorra; now devoid of that species' features save for the mask and the mask alone, its red tear paint marks adorned over its eye sockets with Ichigo's golden-black eyes staring through it.

"_**Are you surprised, Aizen**_?" Ichigo's voice softly spoke, somehow muting the atmosphere's constant thundering and nearby battling of other fighters. Stepping forward, each touch his feet made causing a hissing sound of moisture burning up by his aura of Getsuga. "_**There was two reasons I didn't want to use my Hollowfication right away. The first, I wanted to see how well I could do with my improved Bankai. The second, I had to make damn sure no one was close by. If they were I couldn't guarantee their safety once I don this mask**_," He whispered, suddenly appearing before the speechless Aizen with his sword already making a blur of cutting pressure diagonally from the left to his upper right. "_**TO KILL YOU!**_"

* * *

It was an incredible feeling for Coyote Starrk.

A power of unimaginable heights, something that rivaled his own reservoir of strength. It was for this new development that he almost lost himself in the moment of basking in this distant Reiatsu that doubled over atop another; similar to his own.

That and he almost lost his head to a particularly swift sword stroke.

"Whoops," He monotoned, leaning back to avoid a vacuum slash that his opponent created with a two handed horizontal slash. Raising back up he'd watch Unohana charge in with a particularly gruesome corkscrewing thrust that bent the atmosphere around her path. Using Sonido to deftly avoid it, he raised his left pistol and fired several Cero at her flank. One scuffed her shoulder, ripping off the sleeve, while the others were cut cleanly through like any other substance in her path. "Geez, I guess I should keep my guard up when I'm around you. I was just curious whose Reiatsu that was and then you attacked me when I spaced out. How uncouth for a healer."

"I am a warrior when I draw my sword. Acting any less so would be foolish and pointlessly naive," She replied, raising her blade upright in a beckoning manner as a calm smile adorned her face. "I have to say, your Resurrección isn't as impressive as I believed it to be. Only a small fractional increase to all of your abilities is what I can see. That and the girl I see is now located in the guns. What a charming development."

"**That bitch! Shoot her dead already, Starrk**!" Lilynette cried out from the guns.

"Oi, don't boss me around, Lilynette," Starrk condescendingly groaned out with a roll of his visible eye. "I'm in no hurry to go face that really strong guy. She's plenty strong as it is and I'd hate to see her get stronger if we get serious."

"**W-What is the point of doing this at all?!**"

"Well, you were kinda making me feel emotional so I thought-"

"**No! We're not going to half-ass this! Get your ass into gear, Starrk, or I'll take over!**"

"Hey, none of that or I'll pinch your butt!"

"**Y-You pervert! Don't do that again or I'll-!**"

"Three Hundredth Style," Unohana declared, her body emanating a gust of Reiatsu that resembled an onslaught of skeletal teeth. Swinging her sword they converged in a torrential barrage that aimed to rip the Arrancar into shreds. The force itself blew a holel through the rows of structures in the horizon while a ghastly shriek was left in the wake of the multitude of projectiles. "Gnashing of the Dead!"

The sudden feeling of a gun barrel pressed to her back made her widen her eyes, following by the overwhelming wave of Cero blowing across her body.

"How rude," Starrk snorted, his left eye twitching while dryly speaking to the vapor wave left by his gunshot to the Shinigami's back. "I was in the middle of talking here-"

"Forty Second Style," Unohana retorted lowly, her coat burned but flourishing nonetheless as she knocked away the Arrancar's right hand with her scabbard. An image of a scythe past by her Reiatsu to the rest of her sword whipped through the earth and up at an angle, resembling a twister filled with skeletal digits aimed to tear him apart. "Dead Digit Cyclone!"

While the earth was rend asunder and the storming sky pierced by her twister attack, the sound of Sonido made her turn to raise her blade with readiness. Instead all she saw was an annoyed Primera, looking more irked than fearsome.

"I get it, you want to fight, but give us some room to breathe. You're always up in my face and it's really hard to get a meaningful hit on you," Starrk complained with a huff, earning a mental facepalm from Lilynette.

"For an Arrancar, you make funny jokes," The First Kenpachi chuckled, finding his commentary amusing. But as quickly as she laughed, it turned to one of fearsome antagonism. Her face contorted into one of savage intensity, her Reiatsu becoming one of a thousand shrieks of tens of thousands more victims she slaughtered in her wake. Such a frightening force of power was enough to make Starrk's assessment that she had been concealing her strength had been right.

Securing her blade's scabbard back in her obi, she settled into a squat with the sword held edge up and crossing her visage by her nose, uttering under her breath, "What a slothful man you are. You have more than enough power to kill me but you almost have no zeal to fight. What made you enter your released form if not to end my life?"

"I'm keeping a promise," Coyote Starrk replied, his eye narrowing seriously while raising his gun up to point at her. "That's all this is. I don't care if I have to escape every attack of yours. I'll survive, even if I don't feel up for fighting you."

His words moved Lilynette. If she could, she'd tear up hearing just how much he cared for her. She cherished Starrk's company, and she realized he knew that more than she knew how much her own being was beloved by him. The two may have been the same being, but they were still their own persons. Loneliness birthed them but it was their affection to each other that kept them together.

As one, they'd never drift apart and always be each other's friend.

But while she found these words lovely, the Captain of the Fourth Division seemed almost humored by what was said.

"Is that so?" She smiled, a coldness ebbing her mouth as her left foot scooted forward. "Then, what if I killed her, then?"

Hearing this made the Primera sigh. A trailing flame of blue ebbed over his body as the beginnings of a Cero made its way to his gun. Spraying rays of azure light, it suddenly increased pressure exponentially. The feeling and sight was enough to make Unohana's eyes stretch with shock at what her body felt.

"**Cero Metralleta**," He declared, unleashing a volley of hundreds of Cero at once. The wideness of their berth was such as they blotted out the view of the horizon, wrecking the landscape and flattening anything within his aim. Being near the center of Fake Karakura Town meant the cacophony of explosive fissures had the capacity of erasing a good tenth of the town just by pointing and shooting.

Light was shrouded by the overcast of flashing blue, the only thing that the swordsman could see. Using 501st Style, -Murderous Approach- she formed a thousand blades from her body akin to feathers of a peacock from her back, shrouded in her Reiatsu of a golden shade. In this stance she was able to simultaneously defend against the onslaught of continuous fire, the barrage of explosive force being met by revolving whirlwind of blades from her person.

It amazed her how much firepower was at her enemy's disposal. She felt nothing but a relaxed release of Reishi from the man's gun he shot with. And it was only with one, not both. Her smile widened as her body radiated with excitement. An old lingering hunger that had become dormant was swelling within her.

The yearning of battle with a strong opponent!

Rushing forth insistently to pressure her opponent, the onslaught of attacks swatted aside by her flurry of sword swings coming in exponential numbers. Reaching his position she had thought he'd give ground or attempt to block. But instead, his body merely shifted to one side and raised his other gun while pulling back the other.

"**Cero Escopeta**," The Primera declared, releasing a ballooning blast of incredible blue Reishi. The power in of itself was enough to shatter the ethereal swords of Unohana's crafting and send her catapulting backwards across the cratered battlefield. With his pistol still steaming from his extended grip, he cocked it back and gave a cool stare towards her. "You really are a monster. I had intended that shot to kill you."

"You did a damn good attempt, Espada," The first Kenpachi remarked with a grin, as splotches of blood were shown across her shoulder and now sleeve devoid arms. Charred into crispy flakes of exposed muscle, the Cero hadn't nicked her blade but had done enough to surprise her and push her back substantially. Had she not had her sword to bear, she knew it'd have torn her front apart.

But with the glowing light of emerald coming from either hand skin sewed itself closed and her wounds began to heal at a rate nearly as fast as rapid regeneration. Reaching up to close her shoulder wound, she smiled calmly as he kept his own composure and didn't attack as she recovered. To anyone with half a mind it was a stupid move to not keep up the attack, but she knew this Arrancar better.

"You have a staunch code of honor, Primera Starrk. Even when your enemy is wounded you do not attack when they're healing," She remarked candidly. "You're taking an awful risk..."

"If that was all it'd take to keep you from fighting, I'd never need to use this form. Besides," Starrk responded with a shrug. "I got nothing else better to do. If I hurry now, I might be less of a help to Lord Aizen and more of a hindrance. I'm not the kinda guy who works well in teams. Fighting you will be all the contribution I need, for the moment."

"Heh, fair point," Unohana replied, her Reiatsu once again igniting dreadfully around her while a calm flame coated Starrk's fur-coated person. "Now then, let us fight to our hearts' content!"

* * *

At the same time of Ichigo's new power being awakened, the Visoreds had settled on confronting the horrible chimera entity born of three sacrificed left arms of the Tres Bestia; Ayon. The strength of this beast was enough to fell the strongest of the Combat Specialists of the 11th Division.

While they had moved up to save the downed Yumichika, the spare officers who had traveled with them into the modeled city double had found Ikkaku unconscious and barely alive not far away. Taking him to the Medical HQ was Isane's priority while the other Shinigami saw to the defense of the remaining two towers.

But there was something else bothering the leader of the ex-Shinigami.

"Do you sense it?" Shinji asked Love and Rose, the latter of which helped Yumichika stand as the prior had drawn his sword with preparation.

"It appears there's a still living Shinigami inside its stomach," Rose acknowledged with a nod.

"What?! That's Lieutenant Kusajishi!" The 3rd Seat shouted with alarm. "You have to help her! She was swallowed whole, so she could be saved-"

"Pipe it down," Love smacked the officer over his head, looking annoyed at him while resting his blade's flat on his shoulder. "Do you want that monster to attack us without warning?"

"Yeah, it's just been standing there," The Head Visored looked up, peering past the rain at the behemoth. Covered in blood with nary a scratch from any of its past opponents, it just seemed to look up at the sky. Basking in the rain again, a low sound akin to a pur was heard causing its creators to twitch with annoyance. The one-armed Arrancars didn't worry him as much as their beast, but he didn't want to lower his guard against these kinds of opponents. "Okay guys, I got a plan to dispatch all four. Just buy me a couple minutes and I'll take care of the rest."

"Ha! As if we'd let you steal the glory!" Love exclaimed with a barking laugh.

"Quite," Rose responded equally as exuberant.

Both Shinigami raised their hands up to their faces, swiping them to reveal a simian mask and a plague doctor mask. The Hollowfication procedures was instant, multiplying their power exponentially. The new wave of Reiatsu made Ayon tilt its head to the side and lean to open previously unseen eyes to stare menacingly at them.

"_**Man, yer an ugly bastard**_," Love proclaimed, swinging his hand across his Zanpakutō's flat. With silent proclamation the sword transformed into a behemoth spiked club that is Tengumaru. Hefting it onto one shoulder, he charged towards the beast and swung the weapon singlehandedly. A loud resounding crack with a ringing of metal against skull, the monster lurching back with droplets of blood from the point of impact. Its body staggered several steps, backpedaling into a structure near it. When it zoomed back, it was only Love's fortune that he timed a Sonido to avoid a earth rending punch that obliterated the ground next to him. Taking to the air, he swore under his breath. "_**Dammit! That blow hardly fazed him!**_"

Turning around to reach for the airborne Love, it'd find its outreaching arm twined by a golden rope with a flower bloomed at its end. The display made Ayon stop in its tracks and look at it inquisitively. Spinning its head to look at a mutually levitating Rose, he'd watch the Visored raise a hand and tap it against the rope.

"_**Kinshara Sōkyoku Dai**__** Nanatsu: Rasen Fuy**__**ō**_!" The blonde Hollowfied Shinigami chanted, the twining wire spiraling constantly with the sound of a hundred harps. The event made the limb twist and turn, cracking grotesquely to be ground into an appendage of bloodied meat. A flick of his wrist tore the arm off, making Ayon howl loudly in pain, blood spouting plentifully from its stump. "_**It must not like pain, poor thing. Perhaps we can ease its suffering when it dies beautifully**_?"

"_**Your magic wire going to give it a lullaby?**_" Love asked dubiously.

"_**It's not MAGIC, it's ART!**_" Rose countered with indignation.

"Sure looks like magic," He huffed beneath his mask.

"I wouldn't get cocky, bastards!" Apacci declared with her remaining arm. "Ayon gets super pissed when he gets hurt!"

"_Is he a big crybaby?_" Love thought, turning to look at the beast as something terrifying occurred. Its power swelled, overflowing and shaking the earth while sending a hurricane wind of rain in all directions. Its roar bellowed as a blood red Reiatsu burned brightly around its body. Swirling sparkles of Reishi congregated around his amputated arm, soon growing a host of muscles, bones, skin and fur that all resembled the appendage that was mutilated.

"_**Shit, this is bad**_," The jumpsuit toting fighter swore under his breath, covering his face with an arm as the creature continued to power up.

"I believe we're outside our weight class with this one," His blonde partner deduced, unmasking himself as he spoke.

"Yeah," He concurred as he unmasked as well, smiling all the while. "It's time to let the boss shine."

It was then as they spoke the creature had turned its head backwards to look at the aforementioned leader of the Visoreds. Without even the Tres Bestias notice he had released his Zanpakutō, forming a ring from sword's pommel that allowed it to circle in clockwise motions. The beast's eyes widened, Cero beginning to prime up along its pupils...

...then suddenly its neck diverted to an angle and shot a streak of crimson Reishi that blasted apart structures for a great distance!

"Hey, what gives?!" Franceska barked out with annoyance. "He's right THERE! You can't miss a target with a Cero that large!"

"Perhaps he is confusing his aim? Maybe it diverts Reishi away from him?" Cyan Sun-Sung bemused aloud behind a sleeve.

"Then, why did his whole body shift weirdly like that? It doesn't make sense?!" Apacci snarled with her remaining hand balling into a fist.

"Shall I explain it to you three?" Shinji asked, suddenly behind them without them knowing it. Turning around, they'd realize from the ringing noise the blade's made that something was dispersing. Nothing they'd detect yet, but soon very much so. "My Zanpakutō's name is Sakanade. It's a beautiful sword, moving in continuous rhythm that I may cast a particular effect. I'm sure you'll find yourselves under its spell soon enough."

"YOU BASTARD!" Apacci snarled, her Reiatsu bleeding out as she reared back to charge. With both legs flexing, she charged with incredible velocity. By the time she reached his proximity, she felt her own sense of direction go haywire. The world shifted to an topsy turvy with her enemy veering off path as well. The other two felt its effects while Apacci toppled in midair, her face turning blue with nausea as she choked out with confusion. "...the...fuck..is wrong with me?!"

"Welcome to the Inverted World," He declared, grinning at all three of them as they found themselves almost unable to stand in the sky upright. The rain came from their feet, the buildings became their skyline and their opponent spoke as if he was behind them despite being upside down in front of their confused eyes. "Up is down, left is right, backwards is forwards. Everything is turned around when Sakanade gets its hold on you."

Letting out a futile scream, Apacci charged in just as Ayon clumsily swiped the air with a feral roar. Both of them didn't even come close to hitting anything but empty air. While the enormous beast stumbled to fall face first into the earth, Shinji merely shifted aside and tapped his ringed sword's back against his shoulder. He left the Tres Bestias flailing and on the verge of collapsing in the sky from nausea.

His main focus, was extracting the still living Lieutenant inside of Ayon's belly.

"I have to be precise," He whispered, raising a hand to encompass his face and by extension his whole being with Hollowfied Reiryoku. With the face of a white phaoroh, he stared towards the rainy battlefield with his sword colored rays of crimson. Crouching down, he waited till the beast raised its body up to let out a futile shriek of frustration.

Then catapulted at extraordinary speeds to pierce the innards of Ayon out through his back. In his arms was the gory, bile covered Lieutenant Yachiru. Unconscious from stifled air supply and constant struggling, she was left limp in his arms. Turning away from the flailing beast he returned the Lieutenant to the 5th Seat's arms, whom had just recovered her sheathed Zanpakutō.

"_**All that leaves is to dispose of this monster**_," Shinji grumbled aloud. Raising sword clenching fist, he primed a Cero for maximum damage. Looking towards his friends, he grinned behind his mask and inquired through the rain. "_**Wanna to lend a helping hand?**_"

"Hm, and steal your glory? You'd never let us hear the end of it!" Rose exasperated.

"Yeah, I doubt my contribution will amount much to yours anyways," Love shrugged with a lopsided grin. "Have at it!"

"_**Fine then**_," He rolled his eyes, letting his whole body brim with an intense Reiatsu. The likes of which made the dizzyness and effects of Sakanade briefly forgotten as a power that rivaled even their Lady Espada couldn't compare. His drenched coat whipped about his body while rain swirled within the vortex of priming power. Stretching his fist out while holding his Shikai, he proclaimed in a level shout. "_**Cero**_!"

A column of pure Reishi shot out from his raised fist. Like liquid fire it dissolved the roaring monster down to the bone, erasing him along with a insurmountable stretch of the land. The force of his attack briefly blasted away the rain from their position, an effect that'd last for a minute or two. Lowering his steaming hand, he turned to observe the three Arrancar barely hovering in the air.

"_**Sorry but, I'm not as kind as Ichigo is**_," He murmured, his eyes narrowing as his body moved at speeds none of the three could hope to compare to. A single strike that extended to the throats of each Arrancar, their heads were removed in a powerful swift movement. Unmasking himself, he looked down to the falling bodies with a brief look of solemn respect. "I made sure it was quick. You deserved that much, as worthy enemies."

* * *

Tier Harribel felt it. A synonymous feeling of depression mingled with unrivaled anger. Her three loyal Fraccion had perished at the hands of the enemy. Her connection to them had been potent enough that not even a Pesquisa could rival it. The moment their hearts stopped, she could tell. So in the presence of her enemy's newfound transformation, she was too overcome with swelling anger to give into fear.

Tōshirō could feel that she wasn't about to back down.

"You guys should get out of here," He advised the pair of Visored women, Orihime and Nelliel. They were already wary of standing too close due to the extreme drop of temperature that made them all breathe frosty exhales. The rain had turned to snow for a great distance, all except the immediate vicinity of the visibly steaming Tres Espada. "I cannot guarantee that you'll survive when I attack the enemy. I'm not used to fighting in this state as much as my younger self. If I make the slightest error, you'll perish with her."

"L-Leave?! L-Like H-H-Hell w-we w-w-will!" Hiyori shouted past her chattering teeth. "W-We c-can s-still f-fight-!"

"Best do what he says," Nelliel replied, her body surprisingly resistant to the cold in comparison to the Visoreds. She felt the icy bite, but her Hierro kept her from the majority of its icy grip. "Lady Harribel is far stronger than any of us. Besides," Turning to look at Tōshirō's eyes, she shivered as a reaction to his power rather than the temperature. "He's at a level above even she is capable of reaching."

"Understood," Lisa nodded, grappling Hiyori in a fashion akin to carrying a bag under arm. "Let's go, before you get caught up doing something stupid."

"Hey! L-Let go of m-EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" She screamed as Lisa jettisoned with a propulsive push of her legs off a platform of Reiatsu under her feet. In turn Nelliel turned to follow them without hesitation. The only person who didn't move from her place was a stoic Orihime.

Realizing she wouldn't budge, Tōshirō sighed and turned to look forward, "Do what you wish. I won't be held accountable for your stubbornness."

"I'll be fine," She responded with a smile. "Just make sure you come back to me if you need your injuries mended."

"Will do," He smiled for a second, returning to a cold visage that turned towards a now wrathfully steaming Tier.

The snow that had drifted her way was becoming a maelstrom of water. Increasing in mass in the tonnage, the sky itself above her swirled and spewed the boiling moisture her way. Her visage had contorted to one of clenched teeth, bared on full display. Eyes glowed a pupiless golden and her Reiatsu had never felt higher. The pain of sacrifice reached her from her fallen comrades and has intensified her power to further heights.

Had she fought anyone else, she'd be an incredible threat. But Tōshirō knew better. The moment he entered this form, the battle had turned into his favor.

Without uttering another word she raised her blade and compressed all of the steaming water around her pata. Channeling Reishi into it, the element of her choosing became a golden liquid sword. Charging forth like a bullet, the Shark Arrancar moved in to bite the ice dragon's neck with her weapon. A sweeping motion made her cut a arc of force that would have not only endangered the Captain of the Gotei 13, but Orihime as well.

But an instantly formed Shun Shun Rikka shield deflected her steaming attack, not leaving a scratch upon her barrier. As for the white-hair matured Shinigami, he simply vanished from her sight and moved behind her. Not even her Pesquisa could track him. Feeling a numbness encroach over her, she turned to look at him while having a look of gaping disbelief.

"I believe this is yours," Tōshirō raised up in his left hand the pauldron connected arm that had been cut clean off the Arrancar. The appendage itself was frozen by a precisely thin layer of ice, making it almost look crystal in its replication rather than a deep frozen piece of matter. Below, her pata had been cut in half, part of his counterattack and was upper half dropped to the ground with a shattering crack far below.

With a underhanded toss, the Arrancar could only look at her arm shatter into frozen dust and flake into the now very cold air. Clenching her teeth hard, she looked up while clenching onto her stump, hard enough to draw blood. She could only utter one word as she shivered angrily towards her enemy. "How?!"

"My ice's true power is Ability Cancellation," He proclaimed, angling his sword upward to reveal the small traces of cold vapor rising from the blade's edge. "Anything coming into contact with my ice has the innate abilities of whatever power it possesses become completely inert. Beyond controlling the weather, this is the hidden truth for why Daiguren Hyōrinmaru is the strongest Ice/Snow-Type Zanpakutō in the Soul Society."

"I see," Harribel whispered lowly, focusing all of her Reiatsu left into her palm. Mixing it with the blood, it started a chain reaction. Reishi bolts cracked and snapped around her, the instability of her Reiryoku becoming more and more volatile. Staring forth without fear she charged her power to explode at a catastrophic level. "I'm sorry, everyone. But this is as far as I go.

"Grand Rey Cer-"

A single sword stroke later and her last words were interrupted. Her field of vision became an opaque white and she ceased her breathing entirely. While Orihime had the decency of moving away from the desperate Arrancar's scheming, she also got to witness a wave of instantly freezing air pressure sending nearly invisible water particles towards the Espada. The result caused the sky to twinkle with frozen snow and completely stop her in her tracks. Even her Reishi had been frozen in the air that was snapping, a truly terrifying feat for any ice power to possess.

"Sorry for your grief, but you don't get to avenge them in this life," Tōshirō apologized sincerely, watching her bodily plummet to the ground and shatter into many pieces below. Looking to see Orihime was awestruck but unharmed made him exhale calmly. Turning towards the most prominent Reiatsu, he leaped with intensity in his new goal. "But there is one who needs to be avenged more...!"

* * *

Fire.

It was like fire rushing through his body. The steel didn't even seem to make contact. The sheer strength of the young Substitute was overwhelming. He had never anticipated such growth, let alone him surviving Ulquiorra. He had looked down upon him, was entertained by the idea he entered Hueco Mundo and even encouraged the Captain Commander to send forces to reinforce him. He knew the boy and his allies could have slain a few of his subordinates but never come back with the strength to threaten him.

An eviscerated torso told him otherwise.

Stumbling back on one foot blood thick as oil in water ejected from his torn and charred flesh. In the wake of Ichigo's fierce eyes locking onto his rearing back visage he'd witness him make the slightest changes of expressions. A curl of the lips, jaws tightening and a sight akin to happiness. Realizing what happened before Aizen made his move, Ichigo unleashed a second attack.

"_**GETSUGA TENSHŌ****!**_" He roared out, letting loose an erupting pyre of black Reishi that sent the white coated Shinigami crashing into the earth. The explosion from the assault produced a violent fireball that stretched up to the sky, part the heavens and sent a widening blast of heated air that scorched the urban wreckaged into an otherwise desolate wasteland not resembling Karakura Town. Standing unharmed in the wake of his own attack, the Hollowfied Shinigami looked shocked at what stood there.

Something that shouldn't be alive.

"I congratulate you, Ichigo Kurosaki," Sōsuke Aizen sincerely applauded the orange haired young man. Though he was more charred bones and burnt flesh, he seemed to be standing upright with a mocking glint in his reforming eyes. A prominent orb was welded into his barely rising and lowering chest. The jewel's mere presence invoked fear and curiosity, as if the inanimate object possessed its own sentience to a degree and had a will of its own. "To think you'd be the one to force me past my own limitations. It now hears my call more clearly and will begin my evolution. The breaking down of my being a two dimensional Shinigami and become higher than my failed experiments, the Visoreds, or the better subjects, the Arrancars. I'll become even greater than all other beings!"

Ichigo raised his weapon as flesh was mended and a mysterious substance begin to ooze from the core. It became a second skin, a white coated essence that sought to wrap around his whole being. When he rushed forward to slash Aizen's left arm off, setting it aflame with his intense Getsuga wrapped blade. Seeing his enemy not pained and simply gesture towards the flying arm made him realize that was a mistake.

"You want that arm, you can take it," The White General retorted with a mere gesture towards the burned limb, causing it to halt in the air and point towards Ichigo. "**Hadō #91, Ittō Kasō**!"

An enormous fire blade of unimaginable levels shot downward at the precise angle Ichigo was standing. The Kidō, while not as intense as the last one, was still broad enough that it pummeled the Hollowfied Shinigami down into a deep hole. When the flames crackled around the edge of the pit, he smiled with satisfaction.

Until he felt a crimson beam run straight through the center of his skull and out of his forehead. The only thing keeping him from fading into unconsciousness immediately was the Hōgyoku, his flesh already mending as he turned to see Kisuke Urahara standing a good distance away upon the flattened landscape.

"You're too late, Kisuke Urahara," He called out, turning to reveal the encroaching pale coating that traveled up his shoulders and down his arms, already renewing the arm he had lost. Raising his Zanpakutō towards him, he grinned at the motionless adversary of his. "Now, armed with both Kyōka Suigetsu and my rising power, none of you can touch me. Watch as I become your new-"

A sudden rapid impact transpired from behind caused the white general to gawk as the wind left him. Even the shell that formed over his torso cracked from the force striking his back. Turning to look behind his shoulder, he saw Yoruichi smash a Shunkō enhanced punch with a Anti-Hierro gauntlet wrapped around it. He couldn't even utter a name of surprise as she drilled a number of punches that numbered up to a hundred.

This stall in his evolution infuriated him, leaving his shell growing anew from the core while his arms were covered by the Hōgyoku's flesh. Coughing up blood as he leaped away via Shunpo, he prepared to activate Kyōka Suigetsu-

"**Hadō #88, Hiryū Gekizoku Shinten Raihō!**" It was then that he was forced to focus on blocking a point blank level 80 Kidō. Using his own Dankū as a deterrent that he raised up, he formed an illusion field that made them think he was still standing still. Given that all three of them were still focused on his location, he turned to stab Tessai from behind-

-only for his outstretched hand to be grabbed by a scuff-sleeved hand of Ichigo's!

"_**I won't let you!**_" Ichigo snarled as he broke Aizen's hand and kicked to hit the ground. The colliding object didn't waver the illusion already cast. The group were now focused on attacking an enemy that wasn't there. Angering the Substitute, he rushed in to cut Aizen down the middle, only furthering the evolution process as more white ooze repaired and wrapped around the enhancing Shinigami. "_**Drop the mind games, Aizen! NOW!**_"

"Just a little longer, Ichigo Kurosaki," Aizen whispered, his left eye already being covered along with his mouth as his cocoon almost overtook him completely. "Then, you and I can battle to our hearts' content as equals. Your power against mine. Won't that be more satisfying?"

"_**Enough of the bullshit!**_" The Substitute shouted, prepping a Getsuga once more with both hands held above his head. "_**I'll end you completely!**_"

"The Hōgyoku's Will cannot be overcome through force. Kisuke Urahara already failed doing that. Face it, little Ryōka," He grinned as he almost became entirely overlapped by the substance, becoming akin to a white coated chrysalis. "You've lost!"

Debating on whether or not to attack was the best thing the eldest son of the Kurosaki family could've done. What he saw coming from behind Aizen's blind spot, hidden by the confidence he boasted through an inflated ego, was the speeding frame of someone Ichigo swore he knew. He was older, almost changed in maturity, but was still the white haired Captain he got to know who came to Karakura to help protect it.

Realizing what he intended, Ichigo jumped back in a rapid Shunpo to send himself high into the sky to avoid what's to come.

"What's the matter?! Running away, Ryōka?!" Aizen yelled out, unaware what was to befall him till the sword plunged straight through his stomach from behind. Gawking as blood oozed from the mouth covering of the Hōgyoku, he turned to show his only revealed right eye and glare at the Captain he hadn't ensnared with the earlier spell. His change of Reiatsu and appearance was enough for him to falter fatally for one second too long. "C-Captain H-Hitsugaya?!"

"This is for Momo, Aizen!" Tōshirō shouted, unleashing a massive discharge of ice from his blade that formed a large Ryūsenka. Within the heart of the frozen water was a shocked Aizen. Having never considered that his bond could be disconnected if nullifier had come in contact with his cells bonded to the jewel's, his own power of linked evolution and protective healing powers was stolen in one blow. With a final withdraw of the sword, Aizen's body crumbled to pieces while the jewel hanged in the air and began to fall to the earth.

"_**He did it!**_" Ichigo shouted with relief. "_**Aizen...he's gone!**_"

With the effects of Kyōka Suigetsu gone, Kisuke and the others could witness Tōshirō's new form along with the clattering Hōgyoku. While he felt a sense of satisfaction that it was the young Captain who had done him in, he almost felt saddened that Ichigo hadn't returned the favor. Shaking his head, he turned to Tessai.

"Quickly, we must place a barrier around the Hōgyoku," He ordered his loyal colleague with a sense of urgency. "We must never allow someone like him to obtain that kind of power.

"Of course!" He nodded, rushing to pick up the item.

But he'd be beaten, by a shimmering figure, draped in white.

"You-!" He gasped upon a hand reaching for the mystic item.

* * *

All of the pieces were falling in place. She had all the time in the world to stalk the battlefields where the remains of Harribel and her three cohorts had presided. Using maximum speed while under the cover of Kidō was easy when she had no offensive purpose. Scooping up their remains with swift movements while eyes weren't drawn to their fallen enemies she'd make haste. By the time she reached Aizen, she found herself stopping short. The power he radiated was far more than what should've been possible.

Upon seeing his white coating from the gem that she knew was the Hōgyoku, an alternative idea came into her mind. What greater substitute for gaining a tremendous bout of evolution than through the breakdown sphere?!

"_Now, to only make him drop his guard so I can grab it_," She thought as she crouched a good kilometer away. Her keen Pesquisa was accessed to let her see all angles while staying stationary. As long as nothing hit her directly, no one could detect her. Not even her dear superior. The clashing explosions that followed made it difficult for her to remain in place while using her enhanced spiritual senses, but she forced herself to wait.

She witnessed him subdue Kisuke Urahara and several others through a controlled release of Kyōka Suigetsu. Realizing she was able to perceive what was transpiring despite him activating his Shikai made her realize a critical weakness of the powerful Zanpakutō. If he could not sense his enemies he could not activate his hypnosis on the target his Shikai's Reiatsu influences. Grinning widely to herself, she just about raised her sparkling sword -hidden by Kidō- to perform Hakuren.

When the Substitute returned did she drop back down and growled to herself.

"_Just wait a little longer...wait...wait for it!_" She chastised herself, choosing to quiet the many other voices that egged her on to attack. Ever since absorbing more and more entities did she find it harder to remain calm. The waiting game was making her sweat bullets from her nervous twitching and the host of Aspects trying to take over her. She fought back the urge to scream as she bit her lip tight enough to draw blood. "_I SAID WAIT!_"

Her patience paid off in the form of a slightly familiar being. She hadn't seen him closer than ground level, but the Reiatsu was there. Tōshirō Hitsugaya rushed forth in a surprising blitz of velocity, stabbing Aizen's confident frame from behind. A sudden geyser of freezing water followed by his iconic Ryūsenka move, Aizen's body deteriorated far more than the icy essence she scooped up from Tier Harribel. What did survive, however, was a sparkling orb she couldn't resist snatching.

In her haste, she had undone her Kidō and grasped the gem.

"You-!" Tessai coughed aloud, stopping to a halt when he realized that she had grasped the artifact of Kisuke's creation. Observing it with an obsessive need, the Kidō Captain narrowed his eyes while Kisuke steeled himself from the shock of her appearance. Raising a hand up with his meager overcoat human apparel billowing from his rising Reiatsu, he warned her with a cautious tone. "Miss Kuchiki...please...hand that over."

"I don't believe I will, Tessai Tsukabishi," She replied, her tone far too engrossed with the orb's pulsating presence to realize the others were now looking at her strangely. Her state of mind was off but everything else about her seemed how it should be. While they considered the possibilities, she felt Ichigo's presence draw near. Grinning she turned around and held it up to the Strawberry cheekily. "Look what I got, Ichigo! First come, first serve, right?"

"_**Rukia, what's going on?**_" Ichigo asked, feeling something far too uneasy about her. He couldn't place why, but Rukia wasn't acting herself. Looking at the mystic item created by spirit science, he glared at the ominous foreboding tingling he got along the back of his spine. This thing was not natural and his friends shouldn't play with it as if it was a toy. "_**You should give it to Kisuke. He'll take care of it-**_"

"I don't want to," She answered, her face dropping into a pout as she palmed it in her left hand. "Aizen took it from my body, so I'm keeping it. Fair's fair in love and war, am I right?"

Elbowing Ichigo's chest with a joking grin, he couldn't help but roll his eyes, "_**Cut it out, Rukia. Enough playing around.**_"

"Yes," Yoruichi, snorting with a measure of irritation as she thought Rukia was simply having petty revenge. Crossing her arms under her prominent bosom she twitched angrily at the short woman. "You should hand it over. We're going to deal with it."

"Oh, so like how you let Aizen rip this out of my chest? And tried to steal my Shinigami powers? Is that your way of handling things, Yoruichi? Tessai? KISUKE?!" Aaroniero seemed to exasperate, her feelings coming across as threateningly genuine. She herself felt shocked when tears formed around her eyes when she stared at a despondent Kisuke, whose eyes were hidden by the shadow of his hat. Growling, she waved her fist around with her sword pointed down as she yelled out. "Why do you know best when Aizen was the one who got the better of all of you?! He played you like FOOLS! And in the end, I'm just supposed to sit on my hands and nod with a smile, letting it all be taken care of by the authorities in charge. Good job, Gotei 13! Good job, Visoreds! Good job, Kisuke Urahara! You make FINE selfish, arrogant tools for someone of greater intellect!"

They were all left speechless, including herself.

She hadn't realize these emotions had been bottled up deep within the mind she hijacked of Rukia's. Everything she said was true to a certain extent. Given she was talking, walking, breathing and fighting as a Shinigami it was hard for her to ignore it. Her awakening from the cocoon had done more than align her Aspects to be readily used, it made her host body's thoughts and feelings far more potent than she gave herself credit.

It wasn't just acting, but experiencing it as if it was her own thoughts.

"Rukia...I..." Kisuke tried to form words but was having trouble. His head bowed, and Yoruichi along with Tessai looked away in shame. Ichigo just looked on helpless to think of anything to satisfy his closest friend's hurt. While his matured ally just looked on stoically with tolerance, he couldn't figure out just what to say.

When she felt a familiar stern hand grip her wrist did she come out of her daze. Turning around she saw Byakuya Kuchiki, her -Rukia's, she timely corrected- brother. The man looked far more suspicious than she liked. His eyes, seemingly the same as always, locked into place when he stole her attention while he whispered. A voice that only seemed to reach her.

"You seem pleased that you can fool everyone," He breathed out, a cool venom tinting his words while a subdued fury mirrored his white glowing irises. "But I finally caught you, Hollow!"

"_He found out?!_" Aaroniero immediately panicked, her composure along with the current act of erratic emotion turning into stark alarm. The grip felt unnaturally strong and she could only assume it was the work of Kidō. Growling with impatience, she realized that Byakuya didn't simply vanish into thin air but had set a tracer on her and followed her path of absorption.

"_**Byakuya, what are you-?!**_"

"Stay back, Ichigo Kurosaki!" Byakuya warned, his hand gripping the handle of his sword in readiness. "What you see before you is-"

"HANDS OFF!" She let loose a deafening shout, her Reiatsu unleashed into a column of swirling multi-colored light. The presence of many was felt in her all at once. No longer did it feel genuinely Rukia Kuchiki but Sado Yasutora, Tier Harribel Grimmjow Jeagerjaques, Yammy Llargo, Zommari Rureaux, Chōjirō Sasakibe, Shunsui Kyōraku, his third and fourth seats, the Tres Bestias, many of the Vanguard including Rana Zolinder, Angelle Cooney, Sverrie Alessi, Soto Muerte, Patros, and Sedosa Belleza. The final of which made even Byakuya and those present shock.

"Kaien Shiba?!" Byakuya gasped, recovering in a backward flip as he unsheathed his blade entirely.

"_**What the Hell's going on, Rukia?!**_" Ichigo howled out, his sleeve raised up to see the beautiful fabric of Rukia's torn by the force of her Reiatsu. Instead what he saw was an amalgamation of Reishi colors swirling around her while she bore something that befitted her previous awakening. Her eyes became an entrancing deep lavender that shimmered with a purple light. Her Shikhakushō had become a stark white with a purple obi, a cloak of black outlined with deep velvet red leading up to a pair of flower petals draping over her clothed shoulders that had a shimmering red inside. Her black hair extended down to the small of her back, animatedly swirling in the wind of her power. With her legs on display to show her bare feet, the earth cracked beneath them as her soles hovered a few inches off the ground, a sigh escaped her mouth when she looked over almost annoyed at Ichigo. This in turn spurned on Ichigo's fury as his own immense power burned a deep black around him with his sword pointed at her. "_**ANSWER ME!**_"

"I guess you could say, the jig is up," She joked horribly, turning to spare a glance at a mortified Kisuke, a guarded Byakuya, a stern Tōshirō, a shocked Yoruichi and Tessai, then back at a furious Ichigo. Grinning more methodically cruel, she raised her now Hōgyoku infused hand and announced out loud. "I must tell you that Rukia Kuchiki hasn't been alive for quite awhile. My name is Aaroniero Arrurrerie, nice to meet you officially, Ichigo Kurosaki."

* * *

**A/N:** Wow. I did not think I could get out another chapter before the year ended. But somehow I managed, who would've thought?

**EDIT:** _Sorry about the redo for the ending. I realized I rushed the reveal a bit too sloppily due to my previous tired state. Hopefully this will make up for it! GOMEN!_

Yes, the war is finally over, but the battle over the Hōgyoku is still in contest. With Aizen's death deserved by a white frosty avenger, our Hollowfied hero has to face the gruesome truth that Rukia is gone. So is Chad. And the enemies he's fought or spared were absorbed into her essence. As of now, the total beings Aaroniero has absorbed is well over two to three dozen. Can anyone stop her now that she's assimilated the Hōgyoku? And if not, how far will she take her path of evolution?

Find out, in the next chapter of A Predator Among Us!


End file.
